Collateral Damage
by redsandman99
Summary: Co-written with RRatedauthor. In the aftermath of Patrick's death, Tom is still missing. Now it's up to Cooper, Jeff and the others to try to find him while dealing with old grudges and the consequences of previous actions.
1. Confession

**A/N: Redsandman here, with the third collaboration between myself and RRatedauthor. I just wanted to stop and say that if you haven't ready Crossfire (posted on my profile page) or In the Line of Fire (posted on RRatedauthor's profile page), you should stop and go back and read them (especially In the Line of Fire, since this story will not make much sense if you don't read that one).**

**Now, with that being said, on with the story!**

* * *

Two thirty in the morning. Tom Hardy had been missing for almost seventy-two hours. No phone calls, no nothing. Not even a peep on his twitter account (TomHardyRox). With every passing minute, the odds that Tom was going to be found decreased.

The only comfort was that Jeff seemed to have a lot of people willing to help, even the Lawsons. Well, James wasn't exactly receptive to the whole help thing, but he did stop swearing every time Tom's name was mentioned.

The bigger problem was the police. Almost immediately, Jeff had wanted to go to them. The problem in question had to do with the two dead bodies found in Tim's club. The police were going on the assumption that it was a random incident, although they were having trouble explaining how one of the bodies happened to be found completely skinned with nothing above the neck. If the name Lawson came up, this could lead to all sorts of digging and who knows what other bits of dirt may be brought to the surface, put there was definitely enough for a several awkward questions to be asked.

'_Fuck fuck fuck... why can't these fuckin' Hardys ever leave the fuckin' drama alone?' _A quarter to three and Cooper was staring into his mirror trying to convince himself that he wasn't letting Tom's disappearance get to him. Convincing himself was not a problem, it was the rest of his "family" that was the kicker, Mark especially. The Deadman seemed to be watching him every waking moment (when he wasn't fucking James), although after the blowout three days ago, he had backed off and was starting to act almost like a father to him. That really weirded Cooper out.

"Screw this," Cooper growled and began to dress. He wasn't about to admit, not to himself, or Mark, or anyone else, how deeply this had affected him. He dressed in silence, and quickly eased out of his room.

"And just where do you think you're going at this hour?"

"Fuck off, Mark." Cooper finished locking his bedroom door without bothering to even to look at the speaker. "We've already had this talk and if I remember correctly, you said after you were done talking I could tell you to go to hell. So here it is... Go... to... HELL!"

"I swear, sometimes I think Connor is more mature than you are." Mark shook his head, glaring at his eldest son.

"That has nothing to do with me, Deadman. Unless you want to explore realms of pain similar to what Patrick experienced, get the fuck outta my way and let me do what I hafta do."

"That being what?"

"That being none of your business." Cooper elbowed Mark out of the way and ran down the stairs.

Mark watched Cooper leave the house. _That boy is about as subtle as a fart in church. Must take after his mother._

"That's a lie. Annabelle? Come on Mark, you know what she was like. She never ran out of the house at this hour."

Mark looked over at James who had materialized seemingly out of thin air. For a man his size, an incredible feat indeed. He also realized that his mumblings were a lot louder that he'd hoped.

"Dude, do you know how annoying it is when you do that?" Mark growled.

"Motherfucker, do you know how annoying it is when you leave in the middle of giving me a blowjob?" James demanded.

"Yes... you've done it to me many times."

"Good." James threw Mark over his shoulder and carried him back into their bedroom. "You do that again and you're leaving in a wheelchair..."

...

"This is ridiculous. What the fuck is your brother trying to prove?" Randy yelled.

"I don't know. He's never done anything like this before." Matt replied, keeping his tone down so the sleeping man in the next room wouldn't wake up. Almost three days straight of being awake before Jeff's body finally gave in and he passed out in his bed. "Something must've happened to him."

"Why didn't he just get in the car with us and talk to James later? What could have been so goddamned important? I thought he hated James to begin with."

"I dunno, man, but I do know that he is going to have a lot of explaining to do when he gets home..."

"For sure," Randy stated "And knowing you, if he doesn't you'll beat it out of him."

"If he's lucky.. hang on, there's someone at the door."

"At this hour?"

"Maybe it's Tom... I'll call you back." Matt ran to the front door double-time, hoping that it was his wayward brother.

"It's about time you... what the fuck!"

"Is Jeff around?"

"He's finally asleep," Matt growled "You've got some explaining to do."

"Yeah, but not to you."

"Matty, is that Tommy?" Jeff was at the top of the stairs. Rubbing his brick-red eyes, he called down to Matty.

"See what you did. You woke him up!" Matt barked. "No, it isn't Jeff. It's Cooper."

"Cooper?" Jeff ran into Cooper's arms. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask him the same question." Matt leaned against the wall and stared Cooper down.

_Why am I here? Why do I even care? It was a one-time thing, you said so yourself!_

"Uh, Lawson?" Matt waved his hand in front of Cooper's face.

"What?" Cooper snapped, blinking twice to refocus.

"You haven't answered Jeff's question. Why are you here?" Matt repeated. His body language clearly indicated that Cooper's reply better not only be a good one, but the right one.

"Fuck it. I knew coming here was a mistake."

"Yeah, Lawsons aren't known for making mistakes, right?" Matt retorted.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Pushing Jeff aside, Cooper stood nose to nose with Matt.

"Obviously something happened while the two of you were chasing after Patrick. What happened?" Matt demanded.

"That's the million dollar question," Cooper answered.

"Yeah, one to which two people know the answer to." Matt continued to lock eyes with Cooper. "And since one of them is missing..."

Cooper scowled. This was not something he wanted to discuss with Matt. "Well the other one is going to talk to Jeff alone," he said quietly. "So why don't you--"

"No!" Matt said stubbornly. "No fucking way! Jeff, Tom, Randy and I all put our lives on the line helping your family and they didn't even DESERVE it! You fucking owe it to us to tell us what happened between you and Tom."

"Fine," Cooper said. He didn't want to tell Matt. This was going to cause a fight and a fight between them would more than likely end with Matt getting injured. But Matt wasn't going to let this go without a fight, and the more time they wasted doing the arguing bullshit, the less time they had to find Tom. "We fucked. We fucked in a shed before we got to Patrick's house. Don't even ask me what either of us were thinking because I still don't understand why that fucking shit happened. Tom's a prick and I don't even like him but things just got out of hand--"

"You....you fucked Tommy?" Jeff said softly, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"Well technically he fucked me," Cooper corrected before realizing that was probably not the best thing to admit at the moment.

Matt shook his head. "No way," he said. "There's no way he would do that. After everything that happened last time with Jeff and James--"

"It happened, okay?" Cooper said irritably. He was not in the mood to be anything but blunt. He hadn't really slept since he had found out that Tom had disappeared and that was really starting to get to him. "Now get with the fucking program asshole!"

Jeff just stared at him with hurt and tearful eyes. "How could you....how could he...." Jeff couldn't even finish the question. He just lunged at Cooper and began beating him with his fists. "You bad!" he shouted. "You bad! Why couldn't you leave my Tommy alone?"

"Damn Jeff, that is not helping right now!" Cooper snapped. He made no move to defend himself or point out that Tom had just as much to do with the incident in the shed as he did. He wanted to take the blame for this. _I shouldn't have told him. I don't think this was a good idea...but what the hell else was I supposed to do? He was probably going to find out sooner rather than later, and if it was me, I would want to fucking know._

Jeff ignored Cooper's words and just kept hitting him. Matt let him do it, although he looked ready to strike if Cooper laid a hand on Jeff in retalliation. Finally, after what felt like forever (although it couldn't have been more than a minute), Jeff collapsed at Cooper's feet and began to sob. Matt quickly kneeled down and pulled his baby brother into his arms. "Are you fucking happy now?" he asked Cooper.

"Does it fucking LOOK like I'm happy?" Cooper snarled. Even knowing that he was in the wrong party was not going to prevent him from punching Matt in the face if he got a question like that again. He knelt down beside Jeff too and physically grabbed Matt to prevent the darker haired man from pulling Jeff away. "We're going to find Tom," he said quietly. "No matter where he is, we will find him and bring him back to you. And then the three of us are going to sort the shit out. You understand me."

It took a few more minutes of crying, but Jeff finally managed to nod.

"Alright then." Cooper looked at Matt, who looked ready to try to take his head off. "Don't give me that look Hardy," he growled.

"Why not?" Matt replied. "It's nothing compared to what I really want to do to you."

_Yeah, like you could._ Cooper didn't say that out loud though, even though he wanted to really badly. Starting a fight with Matt wasn't going to solve a damn thing. It was just going to make things worse and things were bad enough as it was. _Tom, I swear, if something didn't actually happen to you and you just ran off to avoid Jeff, I will slaughter you. This shit has put me into one hell of an awkward situation and this is not going to be fun at all._

...

"What the hell has gotten into that boy of yours?" James turned his head to look into Mark's eyes.

"Why is it when Cooper does something stupid, it's always 'that boy of mine', but whenever he kills someone, he's 'your' son?" Mark stared at the ceiling, bringing a lit cigarette to his lips and puffing deeply.

"'Coz I'm the only one who taught him anything." James answered, taking a drag of his own smoke. "Ya mind movin' the ashtray a little closer so I don't have to butt this out on you?"

"Maybe if you had acted more like a human being instead of the psycho ass you usually are, he might have been a little nicer about the whole situation. I'm almost positive confronting Tom alone was not the best thing to do."

"I don't want my son..."

"Now he's your son again." Propping himself on his elbow, Mark stared at James. "He's fuckin' twenty-seven years old. Isn't it about time you stopped meddling in his life."

"I'll stop meddling when he stops fucking around with people I hate!" James growled.

_Like father, like son._

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Cooper has feelings for Tom? Did you even stop to think about that?"

"Yeah, right. How the hell would you know?"

"Because I actually talked to him about it, okay!" It was breaking down again. Mark wondered when fists would enter the fray. "He's confused right now. What he needs is a little bit of understanding."

"What's there to understand? Tom is the enemy, as are all of them."

Mark wasn't exactly sure who 'all of them' were, but he had a good idea. "Not to Cooper. If you're too pig-headed to get that, maybe it's time I step up and become a father to him." He threw off the blankets and got out of bed.

"Just where the fuck do you think you're going?" James demanded

"Guess."

"Mark..." James said in a low voice. "Don't do something you'll regret."

"I don't do regret. If you decide to come to your senses, let me know." Mark stormed out of the house and got on his bike. _Why the fuck can't we have a civil conversation once in a while? _

Mark was pretty sure he knew where Cooper had gone, but another confrontation like the one he'd just finished was not on his agenda. He drove through town, taking the back paths so he wouldn't be spotted. Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up to the nightclub where Patrick as well as his cousin had met their fates three days ago. It was still surrounded by police tape, but that didn't bother Mark at all. He was just as good at breaking and entering as the rest of the Lawson clan, only just a little out of practice.

He stared at the dark structure. _Hardy, you better be in here or dead or both. If you're not, heaven help us all..._


	2. A Little Look and a Little Taste

The door to Tim's club was kicked open with a loud bang, shattering the silence and scattering dust bunnies everywhere. Mark stepped inside, allowing his eyes to accustom to the dim light, before switching on a small flashlight attached to his key ring.

_Good thing James doesn't know I'm going this. He'd fuck it up royally. _Mark panned the light across the room. The news report had mentioned two bodies being found, but he was more intrigued by the state in which Patrick's had been found. The lack of a head told him that someone had finished Patrick off in a big way, not that there was much left of him once he and James had concluded their 'fun' with the guy.

The news item had mentioned shell casings and Cooper had mentioned something about he and Patrick being unarmed during the latter stages of their brawl. That meant that someone else had to be carrying, and he had a good idea who it was, having seen a gun in the possession of one Tom Hardy on several occasions.

_But why would the fucker come back here? The work was done. There was no reason to.._

Mark paused in mid-thought when the beam of his light caught something metal in the far corner of the room.

"Interesting." He mumbled, keeping the spot illuminated while he walked across the floor, still tacky with dried blood. He found what he was looking for under a table, almost completely concealed by a tarp hanging down. If the room was better lit, Mark probably would've missed it so it was no surprise to him that the police, with their huge searchlights, had.

Mark put on a pair of black gloves and carefully extracted the weapon. It was a thirty-eight, the same kind of gun he'd heard Tom boast about owning, but whether it was the same gun, he wasn't sure. Odds are it was, but unless it was hunting rifles, Mark was no expert on the subject.

_So you did come back, eh Hardy? Still don't explain much._

After finding the gun, it looked more and more like Tom had gone back into the club and pumped two shots into Patrick's skull, obliterating it. The question was why? As Mark looked around the club, something stared nagging at him. Something about the whole fucked-up situation was more fucked up that it should've been, not that it wasn't already. Mark tiptoed around the bar, looking at anything and everything. After years of being with James, he knew not to overlook any small detail. He scanned the bar itself, with several bloody nails still attached to a beam where they'd tried unsuccessfully to nail Patrick, to the corner where they'd torn first the clothes, then the flesh from his body, to the crime scene...

_Something's not right... fuck!_

The story said that police had recovered two bullets from the crime scene, but on the floor were three cards that marked the location of shell casings. That meant that three bullets had been fired from the gun he now held in his hand. But where was the third bullet? Who had fired it? Obviously, someone had to since guns usually didn't go off by themselves and the only other person in the room was in no condition to do anything.

Mark's gaze suddenly flicked toward the door when he heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. Quickly snapping off the light, he ducked into the office held by the late Tim Wolfe and scrambled behind the desk; not an easy fit considering Mark's size.

...

Detectives Tracy Smothers and Brad Armstrong, a combined twenty-one years in the Homicide division, had been assigned to investigate what some were calling 'one of the most gruesome murders the city had seen in years'.

"I don't mind telling you partner that this place gives me the creeps," Smothers stated.

"I've seen a lot o' shit over the years, but that corpse damn near made me puke," Armstrong agreed "How could someone do that to another human being?"

"Whoever did that is one sick motherfucker, that's for sure. The chief wants us to comb the scene again for that missing bullet."

"Fuck... if the boys in blue couldn't find the damn thing, what makes him think we'll be able to?"

"At least it saves us from having to listen to Warshovski's vacation stories again." Smothers grabbed two flashlights from the glove compartment and handed one to his partner.

"Yeah. How that guy lives the way he does on a cop's salary is... what the fuck was that?" Armstrong's head whipped around when he heard a loud bang.

"I dunno. It came from the club." In seconds, Smothers was out of the cruiser and running toward the door, his gun already out. Armstrong followed close behind, cursing at his younger partner's speed. "Rookie," he moaned.

The banging was caused by the door that Mark had kicked open. He'd bent it enough that it wouldn't close properly and a strong gust of wind had slammed it against the outside wall.

"On three." Armstrong knew what his partner was going to do and he quickly unholstered his own weapon. A nod of agreement, then Smothers began the count on his fingers.

When the third finger was raised, the cop pulled the door open and flattened himself against it. As soon as they realized that no one was shooting at them right away, Smothers stepped inside followed by his senior officer, both of them with guns at the ready.

They quickly checked out what appeared to be a deserted crime scene.

"Nobody here." Smothers eased down the adrenaline a little.

"Someone was." Armstrong shone his light on the floor. There was a large red footprint in the middle of the puddle of sticky blood and it lead in the direction that Mark had gone to find Tom's gun.

"But who? Forensics?" Smothers asked

"Nah... they may be dumb, but they ain't that stupid. Someone was here snooping around for something."

From where he was hiding under the desk, Mark heard every word and cringed. _So much for gettin' in and out without being spotted._

The two cops followed the trail of bloody footsteps to the corner.

"You think the perp found what he or she was looking for?" Smothers asked

"Who knows." Armstrong had just lifted the tarp to peek under the table when he heard a rustling noise coming from the other side of the club.

"Freeze! Police!" Smothers yelled.

...

Cooper felt really out of place just sitting in the Hardy's kitchen. He really did. But he wasn't leaving yet. He needed to get this shit straightened out with Jeff so they could all just focus on finding Tom. Of course, that was going to be easier said than done. Matt had taken Jeff into another room to calm down, and the older of the two remaining Hardys had told Cooper to be gone by the time he came out or there would be hell to pay.

_Like I'm scared of him. Fuck, he don't intimidate me._ Cooper knew Matt meant business, but unfortunately for Matt, he meant business too. And there was no way Matt was going to intimidate him into leaving before he was ready to. _If this night doesn't end with a fist fight between me and him, that will be shocking as hell._

His phone ran really loudly suddenly, startling him him a little bit. The last time he had checked, his phone had been on vibrate. _Fucking Connor must have been messing with it again...at least he didn't change the ringtone to a Miley Cyrus song again. I would have had to rip out his spine and feed it to him if he did._ "What?" he grunted as he answered the phone.

"What? That's all I get? What happened to at least saying hello to me?"

Cooper rolled his eyes. "Quit being dramatic Dad." He hated it when James got like that. "It's nearly four in the morning and I am not in the mood for this bullshit. What do you want?"

"I want to know where you are at."

"I'm with Jeff and Matt. I told them about me and Tom fucking and now I'm riding through the freakout."

James could be heard grinding his teeth on the other line. "Why in the blue hell did you decide that was a good idea Cooper? Isn't that the kind of thing you should forget about and try to never speak of again?"

Cooper scowled. "Dad, I am not having this conversation with you."

"Why not?" Now James sounded hurt.

"Because you hate Tom!" Cooper reminded him. "You hate him because he fucked Mark, just like you hate everyone else that Mark's fucked that's not you or Mom." _Jodi, Sara, Michelle, Tom, a few faceless bimbos and twinks that we never found out the names of...fuck, I seriously do not get why Dad puts up with him. Dad's not a saint but he's never fucked around on Mark like that._

James sighed. "Oh God, Mark was right wasn't he? You have feelings for Tom don't you?"

Cooper didn't know how to answer that question. His feelings were Tom were still way too mixed up for him to talk about them yet. So he did the only thing he could do: he ignored the Tom question and focused on Mark. "Mark's talking about my feelings?"

"He was until he left," James confirmed. "Hell, he basically fucking scolded me because I wasn't thinking about your feelings and not staying out of your business."

Now Cooper was just plain confused. "Okay, while I agree with that very last part, I have to ask this: who in the hell does he think he is? For twenty seven years, he's never stepped up to even try to be father like to me. Hell, he once told me that just because he knocked mom up, that didn't mean he was my father."

"Well yeah, I've been your father since day one," James said. "Hell I signed the damn birth certificate."

"I know you did! And now, all of a sudden, he's going to start acting concerned about me? Well fuck him! He can go fuck himself and die!"

"Hey now!" James scolded. "That's a little harsh now, isn't it?"

"I don't care if it's harsh or not," Cooper replied. "He's an asshole."

"But he's my asshole," James insisted. "And--"

"And you tell him to stay the hell away from me," Cooper interrupted. "It's way too fucking late for him to start trying to make up for lost time. I was done with him a long fucking time ago." He hung up after that, which was probably not the smartest thing to do because James really did not like getting hung up on. But honestly, Cooper did not give a rat's ass about that right now. Right now, he needed to go interrupt the little conversation going on between the Hardys so he could talk to Jeff alone. He had no real idea of what the right thing to say to Jeff was, but he had to at least talk to the poor guy. _I'm going to have to get through Matt though...oh well, I'll knock his ass out if I have to. It'll be good for him anyway if I did that. I bet he's slept just as little as Jeff has._

..........

Jeff rubbed his eyes and stared at the wall, Bunny and Lizard tightly clutched to his chest. He had thought his world couldn't have fallen apart more when Tom just disappeared like he did, but now it just did. Tom had cheated on him with Cooper. Tom had cheated with a Lawson, just like Jeff had just a few months ago. Back when Jeff had been involved with James, he had thought Tom was treating him really unfairly. But now that he was on the other end of the cheating equation, he understood why Tom had acted the way he did. This fucking hurt really bad. It was betrayal at its finest and Jeff really just wanted to curl up and die at the moment.

Matt stroked Jeff's hair gently. "Jeff I'm so sorry," he said softly. "I really am."

"Sorry don't fix nothin' Matty," Jeff said, his voice hoarse and strained from crying so much.

Matt sighed. "Maybe there's more to the story than Cooper's telling us. I mean, he's a Lawson after all. He could be lying about something here. Maybe--"

"Don't," Jeff said shortly. "Please don't." He didn't want Matt trying to get his hopes up at the moment. He knew in his heart that Cooper was telling the truth. He didn't want to know it; he wanted so badly to believe that it was all a lie and Tom hadn't done that. But this was Cooper, not James. If James had said it, it would be easier to not believe because the head of the Lawson clan despised Tom and would make up lies to get him in hot water. Cooper was a different story. Jeff had gotten to know him well enough to know that lying really wasn't his style. Not unless it was to save his, James's or Connor's life.

There was a long stretch of silence after that. Matt continued to stroke Jeff's hair, but that failed to really comfort Jeff. "Look, I'm going to make sure Cooper's out of here," Matt finally said. "And then we're really going to get the police involved. And if that means exposing the Lawsons, then so be it. They deserve it."

"Fuck you Matt. You turn us in and you're going to find yourself on the wrong end of a knife. I promise you that."

Matt and Jeff looked up to see Cooper standing in the doorway. Matt immediately tried to go at him but Jeff grabbed his arm. He didn't want Matt getting into a fight with Cooper. It wasn't a fight his brother was going to win in any way, shape or form.

"I want to talk to Jeff alone," Cooper announced.

"Well that's not happening," Matt replied immediately. "So you're just out of luck."

If looks could kill, Matt would have dropped over dead. "I wasn't asking for your permission Matt," Cooper growled.

"I don't care if you were Lawson," Matt snapped. "You--let me go!"

Jeff gasped as Cooper literally grabbed Matt, tossed him out of the room and locked him out. "What the hell?" Jeff finally said. "I didn't say I wanted to talk to you!"

"Yeah, well we're talking," Cooper replied. He leaned up against the door as Matt tried to break it down from the other side. "Jeff look, there's nothing I can say that will make you feel better about what Tom and I did. Sorry isn't going to fucking cover it."

"Yeah, cuz you probably ain't sorry, are you?" Jeff asked. He got off the bed so he could stand face to face with Cooper. He was too angry to think about how potentially stupid that really was. "How could you do that to me Cooper? Tom didn't want me around you and Connor, but I told him you guys were okay! I liked you guys!" Jeff bit his lip, unable to stop the next question even though he was terrified of the answer. "How many times?"

Cooper didn't need to have the question clarified. "It was only that once," he said. "I don't know why it happened. I can't explain it. It was just--"

"Do you love him?"

"No."

"Do you even like him?"

"Maybe...in a way...I don't really know. I just thought it was lust but then he disappeared and now I just want to find him." Cooper shook his head. "Look, you can hate me all you want right now, but you need me and my family to help find him."

"No," Jeff said stubbornly. "No, Imma find him with Matt. We don't need you."

"Believe me, you do. And you're getting our help whether you like it or not."

"No. You stay away from him. I can't trust him with you."

Cooper sighed. "He eventually forgave the thing with James...are you going to be able to forgive this?"

Jeff bit his lip. "I'm gonna try...but first I need to find him."

"Which is why you need--"

"No! I don't want your help!" Jeff was determined not to listen to Cooper at all. He blamed most of this on him at the moment. It was easy to do because he was the one that was there. "Now get out."

Cooper shook his head."

"No."

"Ma--" Jeff's yell for his brother was cut off by Cooper kissing him. His eyes widened in shock, and he squeaked as he felt Cooper's tongue invade his mouth. He tried to push the younger man away but Cooper didn't stop until he felt like it.

"I have wanted to do that for way too long," Cooper muttered. He still had a hold on Jeff so that the Enigma couldn't hit him. He pressed his forehead against Jeff's and forced him to make eye contact. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Okay? Just...let's find Tom, and then worry about the other bullshit later. I'll go away and stay away as best I can afterwards if you guys want. Just let me help you find him."

Jeff bit his lip. He wasn't sure whether to believe Cooper or not but he could tell that the younger man wasn't going to go away until Tom was found. "Fine," he said. He tried to yank himself free from Cooper's grip. "Just let me go."

Cooper did and Jeff slapped him as hard as he could. Cooper blinked several times and it looked like he was fighting a smile. "That didn't hurt at all, did it?" Jeff asked with a sigh.

"Not really," Cooper admitted.

"Damn it." Jeff buried his face into his face into his hands. He needed to find Tom and he needed to do it fast because he wasn't sure if he could take working with Cooper for very long. _Although I have to admit, he's actually a good kisser...wait no! No! Bad Jeff! Bad bad Jeff! I have to focus on being mad at him. Yes. I must focus on being mad. Mad mad mad mad mad..._


	3. Trapped

_Fuckin' cops... what's taking them so long?_

Mark's legs were cramping really badly. He'd been stuck under the desk for the better part of an hour, daring to do little more than breathe lest he be discovered. Coming up with an explanation that wouldn't result in his arrest was impossible since he was trespassing at a crime scene. He only hoped that James wouldn't do something equally stupid like try to contact him since his phone was shoved too far down in the pocket of his jeans to reach and he was pretty damn sure that it was still on ring. Just when he thought that maybe his luck was going to change, he heard six words that made his heart skip a beat. (Or was it seven?)

"I'm going to check the office."

"Fine. I'm going to do one more case of the dance floor. Do we know if any of the employees are unaccounted for?"

"Yeah." Mark couldn't see well enough to know which officer it was. "One of Wolfe's personal security goons. A guy by the name of Cliff Riker."

"Is he in the system?"

"I"m assuming that Headquarters ran his name. If they didn't, they're dumber than..., well, you know what I mean."

"Yeah." Mark heard the second voice get a little quieter as he moved away from the door.

The light in Tim's office snapped on, bathing the room in a pale yellow light. Mark squinted. As his eyes got used to the glare, he noticed the tape outline almost directly in front of him. A swatch of the hardwood was stained darker.

_Looks like James 'n me weren't the only ones causing bloodshed._

"Hey, Smothers! Get your ass over here!"

"You got something?" Smothers kept one eye trained on the room while he turned his head toward the direction of the doorway.

"Just call forensics. I think they missed something."

Mark groaned. Just what he needed. More people on the scene meant less chance of a clean getaway. He was only thankful his bike was concealed.

"Be right there." The light was mercifully extinguished when Smothers left.

_One shot. Better make it count._

He didn't bother to wonder what the cops might have found, rather Mark's focus was on getting out of the club and fast before anyone else arrived. He didn't care if it was uniformed police, forensic technicians, or a guy delivering pizza, he was going to be gone and heaven help anyone who tried to stop him.

"Now is not the time to be ordering take-out." Smothers found his partner looking at a cell phone with interest.

"Ain't mine, dillweed. I found it under a pile of oil rags."

"Who's it belong to?"

"I'm about to find out." Armstrong flipped it open and a photo of three men appeared on the screen.

"I know those guys!" A whoop of surprise burst from Smothers' mouth before he could control his composure.

"You do?" Armstrong asked.

"Yeah... my kid's a huge wrestling fan. Those're the Hardy brothers. That's Jeff, and Matt, and the big guy in the middle is Tom. How did uni miss this?"

Mark cringed. _So Tom did come back here after all! Why the fuck would he leave his phone?_ He was halfway home. He just had to hope that the officers were paying more attention to what they'd found than the door. On his hands and knees, Mark inched toward the door and his escape.

"Why would the Hardy Boys hang out in a club like this?"

"Maybe they dropped in for a couple of drinks?" Smothers suggested.

"Not likely. The place has been closed for remodelling for the past three weeks. If it had been left here before that, I'm sure one of them would've come to claim it. No, I'm pretty sure that they had something to do with what happened. Got an evidence baggie on ya?"

"Sorry. I'm fresh out. I think there are a couple in the car."

"Well, go get 'em and let's see what else they missed."

Smothers took three steps toward the door then suddenly stopped.

"Whatcha waitin' for?" Armstrong demanded.

"I got this strange feeling that we're not alone." Smothers removed his service pistol and walked back in the direction they'd entered.

"You're jumping at shadows." Armstrong tried to rebuff his partner's feeling, but he, too, had felt another presence in the room, watching them. "I don't like being here any more than I have to, but there is nobody here." He said the last four words a little stronger, as if he was trying to convince himself of that fact more than his partner.

Smothers was not so sure. He walked in the direction of the exit, pistol raised, like he would if he was about to come face-to-face with a dangerous felon. He walked past an alcove, leading to the VIP section, where Mark was hiding. He had flattened himself against an inner wall. Smothers stopped right in front of the entrance with his back to Mark. He was so close that Mark was sure he could've reached out and grabbed the cop's gun, and more, if he had to.

_Just keep walkin' dude. I don't wanna snap you like a wishbone but I will if I have to._

"Be right back." Maybe Mark's telepathy was working a lot better, or the cop just wanted to get out of there, but he never turned around. Mark breathed a sigh of relief. All he had to do was wait until the guy returned then he could slip out while he and his partner were having their little circle-jerk over their discovery.

He stood statuesque for what seemed like hours until the other policeman returned, clutching several plastic bags as well as a box of latex gloves. He didn't even look twice, just headed straight for the dance floor area where Armstrong was waiting. He'd put on a pair of gloves and was gingerly scrolling through the contents of the phone's memory.

"Find anything more?" Smothers offered his partner a baggie.

"Not much. I accessed the index. This is Tom Hardy's phone, I learned that much. Nothing I'd consider suspicious by any means, other than the fact it was found here. He sure used it alot."

"No surprise, there. He's with the WWE. They're on the road quite a bit."

"Makes sense, looking at the names he's called. Hardy, M., 'Taker, someone he has listed as Cuddle-Bunny, I wonder who she is when she's at home?"

"Uhm... probably his husband." Smothers replied.

"Oh." Armstrong stated "Anyway, the last number on the display was entered three days ago to this Cuddle-Bunny, but it was never sent. I wonder why?"

"Maybe we should ask him. Do we know where he lives?"

"I'm sure we can find out. Come on." Taking only the time to drop the phone into the evidence bag, they departed the club, once more passing Mark's hiding place. He had gotten too involved in listening to the officer's discussion of Tom's cell phone and completely forgotten about his original idea to get the fuck out of there.

_Five minutes, then they'll be gone and I can get gone. I should probably warn Matt and Jeff just in case._

Mark waited for the sound of the car engine to die away before he walked up to the door to leave. He turned the knob, but the door wouldn't move. He tried again, but it wasn't budging.

Mark twisted the knob one last time and ran his shoulder into the door at the same time, but it was to no avail. Whether on purpose, or by pure bad luck, Mark was trapped.

_This is not fuckin' good... not fuckin' good at all._

...........

"Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Dad. Dad. Dad. Daddy. Dad. Dad. Dad. Da--"

"WHAT?" James yelled, finally opening his eyes to glare at Connor. He had just managed to get to sleep not that long ago and he did not appreciate getting woken up.

"You have to come downstairs," Connor told him. He was holding Snoopy tightly in his arms. "Cooper brought Matt and Jeff over and now they're talking about how to get Tom back."

James groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Is Mark with them?"

Connor shook his head. "Nope. Mark not here. Mark still gone."

James froze. Normally he wouldn't have blinked an eye at that kind of announcement. He, Mark and Cooper were all famous for going in and out at all hours of the night and not coming back for a really long time. But since the Patrick incident, James couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about someone being missing. "Where's my phone?" he asked as he started to look around for it. "I gotta call Marky."

"I think you left it downstairs," Connor told him.

"Can you get it for me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I forgot what it looks like."

"Connor Michael Lawson, I am tired and I'm in a shitty ass mood. Do not start that crap with me!"

Connor stuck his tongue out at James before running out of the room. Knowing that Connor was not on his way to get the phone, James got up, slipped on some boxers and then went downstairs. He checked the kitchen first but he didn't find it there. Thinking back to earlier, he remembered last seeing it in the living room. "Mother fucking thing better be there," he muttered as he went in there. "If it's not--oh fuck me."

Cooper, Jeff and Matt looked up at him. "What was that Dad?" Cooper asked as he held up James's phone.

James sighed. "Hand that over Cooper. I need to call Mark and find out where he is."

"Call him later. Help us try to figure out where Tom is."

"No! It's nearly five in the fucking morning right now! I want to find out where Mark is and then I am going back to bed."

Matt shook his head. "I cannot believe I let us get dragged here," he muttered. "This was a mistake."

Jeff glared at his brother. "We need them to find Tom. You know that."

"No!" James objected. "Stop needing us! Stop that right now!"

"DAD!" Cooper yelled, obviously at his wits end with James. "Would you stop it? They helped me when you guys were missing and you're going to return the favor."

James groaned and sat down. He was way too tired to keep fighting with Cooper. "I'm calling Mark first though," he said, completely prepared to fulfill that condition by force if he had to. "I need to know if he's okay."

Cooper sighed and handed James's phone over. James flipped it open and dialed Mark's number. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Mark to pick up. _I swear to God Deadman, if you go missing on me like Tom's gone missing on Jeff, I will hunt you down and kick your ass so badly that you will wish you were never born._

Mark finally answered on the fourth ring. "What do you want Lawson?" he asked immediately. "I really don't have a lot of time to talk right now."

"Where are you?" James asked, deciding to ignore Mark's tone for now. _I'll make sure to give him hell later on._ "Cooper brought Matt and Jeff here and they want to form a damn search party for dumbass Tom."

"Matt and Jeff are there?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it?"

"Turn the speaker phone thing on," Mark ordered. "I've found some shit out." He grunted. "Mother fucker, why the hell won't you open?"

Frowning slightly, James took the phone away from his ear and set it on speaker. "What's not opening for you Marky?" he asked.

"It's nothing," Mark said way too quickly. "You got the speaker set yet?"

"Yeah he does Mark," Jeff confirmed. He waved at the phone like it would magically start letting Mark see that. "Hiya!"

Mark chuckled in amusement. "Hi Jeff."

"What's going on Mark?" Matt asked, eyeing James and Cooper distrustfully. He obviously wanted to grab Jeff and just bail the hell out of there. Not like James would stop him if he tried. He was tired of all the drama between the families. If he had known how much trouble giving Jeff that handjob was going to cause, he definitely would have resisted the urge to do it a hell of a lot harder than he did.

"Tom definitely came back to Tim's night club at some point," Mark told them. "He shot what was left of Patrick's skull twice, and there was a third shot that was definitely fired, but I have no fucking idea who did it."

"Well how do you know it wasn't Tom?" Cooper asked.

"I don't," Mark replied. "I don't know where the third bullet even went. I just know that there were three card things on the floor, which meant the cops had to have found shell casings from three bullets. Oh and I think I found his gun and the cops that were just here found his cell phone."

James raised his eyebrows. Why in the blue hell had Tom left his cell phone and gun behind? That didn't make sense whatsoever. He looked at Jeff, who had gone really white and was chewing on his fingernails nervously. "Do the cops know it's Tom cell phone?" James asked.

"Yeah," Mark said. "They checked it out and stuff. I think they're going to go question Matt and Jeff about why Tom would be in a club that's been closed for remodeling for three weeks so I think they better get their asses home just in case."

Matt groaned. "Oh great. What the hell are we supposed to tell them?"

"I don't know, but it better not be incriminating to any of us," Mark replied. "And I fucking mean that."

"But what about finding Tommy?" Jeff asked. "I wanna do that now."

"Well getting the cops out of our hair will make it that much easier for us to do that," James pointed out, saying that mainly for Jeff's benefit. He still kind of had a soft spot for the youngest Hardy, even if he wouldn't admit it or ever let it come to anything ever again. "Cooper, would you drive those two home in case the cops decide to question them first thing in the morning?"

"Fine," Cooper said with a sigh. "Come on, let's go."

James watched the three of them go before switching his phone settings back to normal and putting it back up to his ear. "Are you coming home soon Marky?" he asked. "I think you've done enough good deeds for tonight."

"Uh....I'll be home soon. I just got to take care of something right now."

"Take care of something? Mark, where are you?"

"Uh....somewhere. That's where."

"That's not an answer Mark," James said. He was really starting to get irritated with his longtime lover. "Why are you being so cryptic? You're not still in that club, are you?"

"Of course not," Mark said way too quickly. "That would be stupid." He muttered a few incoherent words under his breath. "Look Lawson, I gotta go. I'll be home soon, bye!"

James blinked as he got hung up on. _That fucking idiot...he's still in the club!_ He groaned and got up to his feet. He was absolutely sure that Mark was still in the club and didn't want him to know about it. _He might be trapped and thinks I'll do something stupid if he tells me. Well fuck that shit. I'm not letting him get caught by the cops._ "Connor!" he shouted. "Come here!"

"What?" Connor yelled as he came downstairs. Snoopy was trying to get a baseball cap off his head that Connor had put on him.

"Get your shoes on. We gotta go get Mark."

"Why?"

"Because he's a dumbass."

"Why?"

"Because he went looking for clues for Tom and possibly got himself trapped in that club we killed Patrick in."

"Why?"

"Because he likes the missing asshole for some reason."

"Why?"

"Beats me."

"Why?"

James glared at Connor. Connor giggled nervously before running to get his shoes on. James sighed and rolled his eyes. Sometimes Connor's childlike antics were amusing, but tonight was not one of those times. _Hopefully he doesn't slow me down to getting to Mark before the cops come back. If he does, I swear to God, he's not having ice cream for a month. I really fucking mean that._


	4. Cry for Help

"Oh shit!"

Despite their haste, the police had beaten Cooper and the Hardys home.

"Now what?" Jeff asked.

"I ain't stoppin' here. There's a Donut shop two blocks from here. Go buy a dozen and walk back," Cooper answered.

"I ain't hungry," Matt grumbled just to be difficult.

"I don't care if you're fuckin' anorexic, just do it. It'll give you a believable reason why you weren't home and, if you stay away long enough, maybe the cops will get bored and leave. Now duck down." _Why do I bother? _

Matt and Jeff slouched in the seats. Without changing his speed, Cooper drove past Tom and Jeff's house. To everyone else, it was just a driver on the road, even though it was five in the morning. Cooper noticed that one of the cops was looking intently at Tom's Viper, still parked in the driveway.

"I guess they found the place," Cooper shrugged, turning into the donut shop. _Can't one thing go right? _

"Donuts!" Jeff squealed, jumping out.

"Remember, not a word about us. If Dad even suspects the name Lawson was mentioned, Tom's disappearance is going to be the last thing you'll need to worry about..."

"What's the first?" Matt sneered.

"Dismemberment... if you're lucky. Now get with the plan." Cooper pointed to Jeff, bouncing anxiously.

"What about Mark?"

"Don't worry about him. Just do what you hafta and leave that motherfucker to me."

Cooper waited only long enough for Matt and Jeff to go into the store before burning rubber home. He took a slightly longer route, one that would take him past Tim's club.

"Shit! Shit! Fuck! Could he be any more obvious?" Cooper saw James' bike parked in the nearby bushes. It looked like he'd done a half-assed job concealing it. Must've told Connor to hide it. Little shit can't even do that right. He drove on without stopping. No sense all of them having to answer unnecessary questions.

........

"Whaddare we gonna tell the cops?" Jeff asked, nervously making a mess out of eating a strawberry-filled donut.

"As little as possible... if that even." Matt replied, demolishing a gooey eclair. "Let me do most of the talking."

"Why?"

"Because once you start, your mouth tends to runneth over." Matt stated. Jeff stuck out his tongue, covered with slightly-used donut, but it was the truth. Jeff wasn't much of a talker when it came to strangers, but get him started and it was like that damn bunny... Energizer, not Bunny... he wouldn't shut up. "And I am not getting murdered in my sleep by those fuckin' Larsons because something you said gets back to them."

"Awww... they're not all like that... Cooper likes us."

"Not as much as you'd like to think, little bro. He fucked your husband, for Christ's sake." Glancing at his watch, Matt nodded deceptively. "I think we've kept them waiting long enough."

"Yeah? Maybe they will have gotten bored and left," Jeff hoped.

"I hope not. You know cops... when they're not out chasing crooks or harrassing innocent people, they're at a donut shop and this is the closest one. I'd rather deal with them at your house. At least there we can throw them out if they get rude." Matt rose from the table and grabbed his drink as well as the half dozen uneaten snacks.

Trying to look like two brothers who'd just stopped for a snack, instead of two brothers with something to hide, Matt and Jeff casually walked along the sidewalk to Jeff, and the errant Tom's, abode. The two cops were no longer outside the house, but two men were clearly visible in the front seat of the cruiser parked across the street.

"Remember, let me do most of the talking," Matt whispered "and when you do have to say anything, keep it as brief as possible."

Officers Smothers and Armstrong watched the brothers enter the house with deep interest.

"Let's go!" Smothers moved to exit the vehicle.

"Not yet." Cautioned by his senior partner, he halted one hand on the door handle. "Give them five mintes. Don't want them to get suspicious."

"Suspicious?" Smothers looked at his partner, as if the word was foreign to him. "There's a cop car parked across the street. If I were them, I'd be suspicious already."

"Relax. If they're involved, we'll find out eventually. It's easier to catch them in a lie if they have their guard down."

"What are they waiting for?" Jeff whined.

"Calm down Jeffers." Matt peeked through the drapes at the car. "Go cuddle with Bunny." He'd just seen the two officers get out of their vehicle, apparently deciding that they'd waited long enough.

"Bunny!" Jeff raced upstairs. "Imma home... ewww, Bunny! You shouldn't be doing that with Lizard! Bad, bad Bunny! Bad Lizard too!"

Matt laughed until he realized that he was going to be having nightmares of cuddly animal porn for weeks.

"I really didn't need to know that." Shuddering, he waited for the arrival of the cops. The doorbell rang seconds later.

Taking a deep breath, Matt opened the door. "Can I help you?"

"Does Jeffrey Hardy live here?"

"Yeah," Matt stated.

"We need to speak to him about the whereabouts of one Tom Hardy," Smothers stated.

"Oh." Like he'd told Jeff, Matt was keeping his answers short and terse.

"May we come in?"

"I guess. It ain't my house... Jeffro, company!" Please Jeff, don't fuck this up for all of us.

"What is it, Matty?" Jeff came to the head of the stairs, then stopped looking from his brother to the cops then back again.

"They wanna talk to you about Tommy," Matt answered.

"Why? What happened?" Jeff looked nervous. Whether that was part of the act or Jeff was really afraid that he would say the wrong thing, it was still a nice touch.

"That's what we're trying to find out," Armstrong answered "We found his cellphone at a crime scene... when was the last time you spoke to him?"

Jeff looked at Matt. "Mebbe three or four days ago."

"Nothing since then?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"He said no... now what exactly is going on?" Matt interrupted. Time for him to get into character as the protective older brother.

"Like my partner said, we found his cell phone at the scene of a double murder and we're trying to figure out why. If your brother had nothing to do with it, then there's no reason to get riled up."

"I'm just curious. You said you've had no contact with him for the past four days... didn't that concern you?"

"N-not really. When he's on the road, sometimes we don't speak for a week," Jeff shrugged

"How well do you know Tim Wolfe?"

"Doesn't he own that club downtown?" Jeff started chewing on his fingernails. Matt glared at him and he stopped abruptly.

"Yeah. The Wolfpack. That's where we found the phone. Do you have any idea why we'd find your husband's phone inside a club that's been closed down for three weeks?"

"I am not his social secretary. We all have lives, y'know. Maybe he was gonna buy the place or something, I dunno."

"Just out of curiosity, what size shoe does he wear?" Armstrong looked at Smothers.

"Big," Jeff answered.

"Can you be a little more specific?" Smothers stifled a chuckle.

"Uh, real big?"

"You're not being very helpful," Armstrong retorted. Guess who was playing 'bad cop'?

"He's my husband. I'm more concerned with other parts of him. His feet are not a big priority," Jeff shouted.

"If it means anything, he wears a thirteen triple-wide in his wrestling boots." Matt stepped in to allow Jeff time to calm down. "How much longer is this gonna take?"

"As long as we say it is!" They were hiding something, Armstrong was sure of that fact, and he was quite prepared to spend the rest of the day talking to them to find out what it was. "Next question... does the name James Lawson ring a bell?"

Matt and Jeff looked at each other. Oh crap...

......

"Why can't we go in through the front door?" Connor asked as he followed James around to the back of the club. He was still in his pajamas because he had not been given any time to change into anything else. I don't see why I need to be here. Snoopy needs me a lot more than Mark does. Snoopy doesn't like to be home alone. He thinks the monsters are going to get him and that scares him.

"Because people might see us going through the front door," James replied. He pulled Connor along because Connor was not walking fast enough for his taste. "Now would you quit dragging your feet? We need to get Mark out of there."

Connor pouted. He liked Mark and all...sometimes anyway. Sometimes he got mad at Mark because of all the times he wasn't very nice to Cooper. Despite the fact that they didn't always have the easiest or best relationship, Connor really did adore Cooper in his own weird and twisted way. And he didn't like the fact that Mark had hurt Cooper before. When Cooper had first found out about Mark being his dad, there had been a huge blowup between him, James and Mark and Cooper had run away from home. Connor had only been nine at the time, and that was the first time he had spent any real time away from Cooper. It wasn't something he had enjoyed. He needed to have Cooper around, even when he was being a fuckhead. It was Cooper after all.

"Here it is," James muttered. He let go of Connor's hand and forced the back door open. "Come on," he ordered.

"Stop being bossy!" Connor whined. "You're mean when you do that!"

James sighed. "Connor, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just worried about Mark. I need you to understand that."

Connor put a piece of his hair in his mouth and began to chew on it. "You think a bad person is going to kidnap one of us again?"

"Fuck I hope not," James muttered. "That's the last thing we need." He removed Connor's hair from his mouth and motioned for him to keep quiet. The two of them began to walk through the dark club, looking around for any sign of Mark. Connor kept close to James, almost expecting to see Patrick's ghost to pop out of them at any moment. _Remember what Cooper and Daddy said_, Connor reminded himself. _Ghosts aren't real. Ghosts aren't real. Gho-- _

"Lawson! What the fuck are you doing here?"

Connor jumped as Mark appeared out of nowhere and began limping towards them. "Bad Marky!" he scolded. "That scared me!"

Mark ignored Connor because he was too busy glaring at James. "You shouldn't have come here," the Deadman growled. "I was going to get out by myself."

"Before or after the cops came back?" James replied. He looked down at Mark's knee. "Are you alright? You're limping."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. I just watched you do it."

Mark sighed impatiently. "Look, my knee is bothering me a little bit, but it's going to be okay. I just walked around on it too much."

"You aren't supposed to be walking on it at all," Connor pointed out. "The doctor said--"

"I don't give a rat's ass what the doctor said!" Mark snapped irritably. "It's my knee and if I feel like walking around on it, I damn well will!"

"First of all, you watch your fucking tone when you're talking to him," James growled, stepping in front of Connor protectively. "Second of all, we need to stop this bullshit fighting and just get the fuck out of here. I don't want to be here when the cops come back to do another search of this place."

Connor stuck his tongue out at Mark but stopped when he got a glare from James. "Don't egg him on," James said.

Connor pouted and followed Mark and James out of the club. James and Mark were so mean sometimes. He wanted to give them a big kick in the ass but he decided against it. He didn't want his ice cream taken away from him. _Meanies. I'll get them for this. I swear I will. _

"Good God Lawson, how obvious can you get?" Mark asked as he spotted James's motorcycle.

"I was worried about you!" James protested. "I was in a hurry! Besides, Connor thought it was a good spot!"

Mark snorted. "And you trusted his word for it?"

Connor glared at Mark. Oh yeah, Taker was going to get it. He would make sure of that.

"Would you just shut your mouth?" James snapped. "We've got cops to worry about here. If Matt and Jeff fuck up the questioning--"

"They won't," Mark said immediately.

"Matt don't like us and Jeff's not the smartest one of the bunch," James pointed out. "And as much as I hate to say it, Tom would be the best one to get the cops off our tail. He could bullshit the cops into thinking that the sky was green and the grass was made of dildos."

Mark tilted his head to the side. "That's uh...uh...wow James. Just wow."

Connor giggled. "Dildos dildos dildos dildos..."

"Are you going to chant that all day now?" James asked.

"Dildos dildos dildos dildos--"

"Oh God help us all. "

Connor giggled. This was going to be fun.

...

"If you'll excuse me for a moment," Matt suddenly stated.

"Where are you going? We're not finished here!" Armstrong bellowed.

"I had three coffees earlier today. I really need to piss." Before either cop could object, he sprinted up the stairs. Instead of the bathroom, he went into Jeff and computer room and quickly logged on to his Twitter account. Sometimes he got these strange feelings, almost like Connor, and something told him he needed to be on Twitter right then. He quickly scanned through the last few tweets from Helms, Shannon, and a few other members of THS and right in the middle of them all, he saw something that made his eyes bulge and his heart thump in his chest. Someone had posted a message on Tom's twitter account and, given that he randomly changed his password almost daily, it was pretty close to certain that it was from Tom. It wasn't that there was a message that concerned Matt; even without his cell, Tom would find a way to communicate. It was the content of the tweet. Two simple words: HELP ME!


	5. Dangerous Questions

Cooper sighed as he looked in the pantry. As much as he wanted to just go back upstairs and get some sleep, he couldn't do it. Not yet anyway. He was hungry as hell and he could not sleep on an empty stomach. Unfortunately, he was not finding anything good to eat and it was making him really frustrated.

"Damn it Snoopy, what should I eat?" he asked the beagle, who was staring up at him and wagging his tail

Snoopy tilted his head to the side before walking over to the fridge and scratching at it. Deciding to give it a shot, Cooper walked over there and opened up the door. Almost immediately he saw packages of sausage and bacon. "Perfect," he said. He grabbed them and set them on the counter. "Thanks Snoopy."

Snoopy barked twice before trotting out of the room. _Maybe that dog isn't as stupid as we think,_ Cooper thought to himself as he began cooking his breakfast.

While the bacon and sausage cooked, Cooper made sure to make himself some toast too. Just as all the food got done and he was sitting down to eat it, Connor, James and Mark were coming into the kitchen. James looked like he was ready to smack the shit out of Mark, who collapsed on to the nearest chair as fast as he could. Connor was chewing on his hair, which was something he hadn't done in years. "Ooohhhh, did you make me any?" Connor asked as he looked at Cooper's plate of food.

"No," Cooper replied.

Connor pouted his lips. "Why not?"

"Because I didn't know you were going to be home yet." Cooper handed Connor one piece of bacon. "Here, take this and leave me alone. Dad will have to make you more if you want it."

Connor happily took the bacon and stuffed it into his mouth, making obnoxiously loud noises as he did so.

"That's disgusting," James complained, shooting Connor an irritated glare. "Chew with your fucking mouth closed."

"So you guys didn't get spotted at the club?" Cooper asked.

James gave him a look. "How did you know we went there?"

"I saw your bike."

Mark threw his hands up. "See Lawson? You see how shitty of a job you did hiding your bike?"

James flipped Mark off before sitting down next to Cooper. Connor, not wanting to be left out, plopped down on James's lap and rested his head against his daddy's shoulder. Within seconds, his eyes were closed and he was snoring. Cooper could tell that Connor had actually fallen asleep and wasn't faking it. Connor's fake snoring was a lot louder and more obvious.

Cooper tried to concentrate on just finishing his breakfast, but it was hard for him to do because Mark kept looking at him. He tried to pretend that it wasn't bothering him, but it really was. Mark's stare had always bothered him, even before he found out that the Deadman was his sperm doner. Of course, when he was little, he actually found Mark to be creepy. But once the truth came out, he came to see Mark's stare as one to hate and despise. Now was not an exception. "What?" he snapped at Mark when he finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Did you tell Jeff about your thing with Tom?" Mark asked, not really put off by Cooper's tone. He was completely used to it by this point.

"Yeah, I did actually."

"How did he take it?"

"What do you care? It's not your business."

"Would you just tell him?" James said, eyeing Connor, who had actually started to suck his thumb. "I'm curious to find out myself."

Cooper sighed. Of course James wanted to know. James was nosier than shit when it came to stuff like this. "He freaked out," Cooper told them. "Okay? He totally freaked out and cried because he's a big fucking twink. Matt looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of me, but he didn't do it."

"Because you shanked him?" James asked hopefully.

Cooper gave him an incredulous look. "Did he look like he was shanked when he was here earlier?"

"Oh, you told them before you brought them here? Well I didn't know that!"

"Yeah well, I told him, and talked to him as best I could," Cooper said. He shook his head and began shoveling his food into his mouth. He really just wanted to go upstairs and go to bed. Was that too much to ask?

For Mark, it apparently was. "So all you did was talk?" he asked. "You didn't do anything else while you were there did you?"

James frowned at Mark. "What kind of question is that Marky?

"Well we all know he's had a thing for Jeff for a really long time and I doubt that his thing with Tom put an end to that..."

"Hey, I'm still right here!" Cooper reminded them. "Don't talk about me like I'm not in the room. He leaned back in his chair, letting his glare go back and forth between the both of them. "Why are we even having this discussion? I'm twenty seven years old. I can do whatever the hell I want at this point."

"Yeah, but I'm just concerned that--"

"You're _concerned_? Since when have you been concerned about anything involving me?" The volume of Cooper's voice was starting to get louder, which was making Connor stir, but he was having a really hard time giving a shit at the moment.

"Since--" Mark started to answer.

"Since Patrick almost killed all of you guys?" Cooper guessed. "That's a fucking joke. You've nearly been killed plenty of times and it never changed the way you felt about me. You can't stand the sight of me."

"That's not true," Mark denied. "That's never been the case."

"Oh really? Well it sure as hell feels that way."

James put his hands up as Connor began to whimper and open his eyes. "Cooper, Mark, please. Just shut the fuck up. We've had this discussion before and--"

"Dad shut up," Cooper ordered. He didn't take his eyes off of Mark as he said this. "Let me tell you how I see things Mark. I was a mistake. We all know that. Hell, you've said it on more than one occasion. And because I wasn't supposed to happen, you let Dad take your responsibility because you were an asshole coward who couldn't man the fuck up."

"Cooper I--"

"Don't! I've fucking heard it all before Mark. I've heard your excuses and I'm sick of them. You didn't want me. You never did. Even after you had your other kids, you still didn't want me. Hell, Gracie and Chasey don't even know I'm their brother. Gunner only knows because I fucking told him and he confronted you about it. I've been rejected by you way too many times to give a shit what you have to say anymore and I sure as hell am not going to let you pretend like you suddenly care about what I do." Cooper got out of his chair and stormed out of the room. He went upstairs to his room and slammed the door shut before laying down on his bed. He really didn't get a lot of satisfaction of telling Mark off like that. There was the temporary bit of relief of getting that all off his chest, but he knew it wouldn't last. He had said of lot of that before, but it never really stuck with Mark. His head was too far up his own ass for that.

Cooper sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep, but his mind was racing too much to allow him to do that. Thoughts about Mark, Jeff and Tom were all racing around in his brain, blending into each other and drivng him insane. _Fuck, today is going to be one long ass day._

…..

"What about him?" Matt asked, trying to approximate Tom's nonchalance. His older brother was awesome when it came to not revealing emotions to strangers. Matt learned that the hard way, losing five thousand bucks playing heads-up poker one night.

"His name has come up in our investigation several times in connection to the family of the club's former owner. We know Jeff had a relationship with Mr. Lawson as well..."

"We fucked... big whoop!" Jeff blurted out. "It was a mistake!"

"Is that so?" Armstrong smiled. "Nothing you'd care to add?" He directed this statement at Matt.

_Careful, Hardy... keep it short. _

"Honestly, I've never met the guy officially," Matt answered

"But you do know of him, correct?"

"Well, yeah. Who hasn't? The whole WWE knows about him." A flashback to the last time James was allowed at an event went through his mind as well as the throat-slashing incident. "He's... well,..."

"Would you classify him as the psychotic type?" Smothers sensed where his partner was going with this line of questioning.

"I am not a psychiatrist," Matt answered, a little too quickly for the cops. "And, like I said, I've never met him officially."

"So, you fucked him... that's it?" Armstrong turned back to Jeff, who was looking a little uncomfortable. "But you were married at the time, correct?"

"Exactly what does this have to do with anything?" Matt shouted.

"We're just trying to get some background on Mr. Lawson," Smothers answered "And we're not talking to you right now."

"Yeah? Well, you're not talking to my brother either!" Matt stated.

"We can do this here, nicely, or we can finish this downtown where we won't be so nice," Armstrong threatened. The Hardys were hiding something, he was now quite sure of that, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Jeff, don't say another word!" Matt shouted.

"But..." Jeff stammered.

"Jeffrey, if you have nothing to hide, then telling us now is the best thing to do," Smothers added softly. Good cop to the rescue once more.

"Imma confused. What's this got to do with my husband?" Jeff asked.

"Jeff..." Matt warned.

"Matty, they're only trying to help," Jeff replied.

"Whatever, it's your funeral." Matt stormed out of the room and went back upstairs. He logged back on to his twitter and scrolled back to see if there was anything else from TomHardyRox. Right after his last post, someone he didn't know asked where he was, to which he tweeted back: 'I'm... oh fuck, he's back... I gotta go!'

"At least you're alive," Matt whispered.

...

"So, you've had no contact with Mr. Lawson since you stopped fooling around with him, correct?" Armstrong asked

"Uh-huh." Jeff fidgeted in his seat, waiting for Matt to return. He really didn't like talking to the police without Matty beside him. Fearful that he'd say the wrong thing, he kept his answers short, like he'd been told.

"What about his sons: Connor and Cooper?"

_'Damn, they'd really done their homework.' _

"Tommy and I had them over for dinner last week," Jeff shrugged "I don't understand what this has to do with anything."

"We're not sure either... that's why we're asking. Either your husband was directly involved with the murders at the club and that's why he vanished or he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and whoever did the crime needed to get him out of the way."

"And you think James is responsible?"

"All we can say is his name has come up enough times to make it seem less like a coincidence." Smothers stated

Matt walked back into the room, looking gruff. "I just talked to our lawyer. If you wanna ask us anything else, then you'll have to wait."

"That's okay. We're done here. Thanks for all your help, Jeffrey. We'll be in touch if we need anything else." Armstrong motioned for his partner.

Matt's mouth opened in disbelief. He glared at Jeff. 'What the fuck did you tell them?' he asked with his eyes.

Back in the cruiser, Smothers looked at Armstrong. "What are you thinking?"

"Every turn in this investigation leads us to either Tom Hardy or James Lawson. I think they're in this together. It's just too much of a coincidence."

"So what's our next step?" Smothers asked.

"Back to the station. I want to dig up some old case files. Our next step might be to focus on Lawson."

"But what about those two?" Looking back at the house, Smothers saw two shapes standing beside the window.

"I don't think they had anything to do with the murders, but I want to be absolutely sure before I clear them. Run them through the database. If either of them has an overdue library book, I want to know about it."

"Yessir."

Armstrong started the car and they drove off.

...

"Are you crazy?" Matt bellowed, shaking his brother by his shoulders. "Were you not listening to Cooper?"

"Matty, you're hurting me!" Jeff whined. "Imma not say nothin'!"

Matt looked into his brother's eyes and saw how scared Jeff really was. He quickly relaxed his grip.

"I hope you didn't. Either call Cooper or James and tell them what happened right now."

"But..." Jeff didn't want to talk to either of them. He hoped that if he did nothing, it would go away.

"Unless you'd rather wait until after the police get a hold of them," Matt added.

"Imma call them right away," Jeff gulped.

...

James looked at Mark as the Deadman tossed and turned in bed. They were supposed to be trying to catch up on some sleep but it really wasn't working out that well. "Are you upset over what Cooper said?" he asked.

"No," Mark grunted. He raised his head up enough to punch the pillow and then laid his head back down.

"Are you sure?" James knew it was probably better just to drop the subject but he couldn't. He loved both Mark and Cooper to death and the fact that their relationship had been strained for so long bothered him.

"Yes," Mark growled. "I'm sure."

James sighed and wrapped his arms around his disgruntled lover. I know you don't want to hear this but you should have known he was going to react like that. You did fuck up really badly with him you know."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I fucking know that Lawson! You don't think that hasn't started eating away at me? Fuck, I haven't been the best father with Gunner and the girls, but I at least made attempts with them. I just abandoned Cooper."

James frowned. "So you trying to step up and do what you should have done years ago is just something you're doing to make yourself feel better?"

"No, that's not it at all. Don't fucking twist my words around Lawson!"

"Well how can I not when that's what it sounds like to me?" James sat up so he could look down at Mark. "If you think—" The phone rang, interrupting his tirade. "Son of a bitch," he muttered. He grabbed the phone and answered it. "What?"

"James?" Jeff squeaked.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Why isn't Cooper answering his phone?"

"He probably has it turned off so he can sleep. What do you want?" James was silently cursing himself for not turning off his own phone. He really did not feel like dealing with the Hardys at the moment.

"The cops questioned us about Tom…" Jeff said slowly.

"Lovely, the fucking pigs can't ever just let assholes stay gone."

"….and you."

James's eyes widened. "WHAT?" he yelled, making Mark sit up with concern. "What the fuck did you say to them you idiot?"

"I didn't say nothin'!" Jeff said defensively, practically bursting into tears. "They brought you up! They said they knew there was a connection between you and Tim's family and they knew about my little affair with you…"

"Shit fuck shit fuck!" James bellowed, getting up to his feet so he could grab a lamp and smash it up against the wall. "What did you say about me?"

"That I haven't had contact with you since we broke up. And Matt said he's never actually met you. But they asked Matt if he thought you were psychotic and they brought up Cooper and Connor."

_Oh hell no. No no no no no…_ Feeling his control leaving him, he had to restrain himself from screaming at Jeff. "You think I'm going to get questioned?"

"Yeah," Jeff said, his voice wavering. He was obviously scared to death at the moment. "James I swear, I didn't—"

"Just shut up," James snapped, not wanting to hear it. "If they come to me, I'll take care of them. Permanently." He hung up the phone and threw it against the wall.

"Let me guess," Mark said, looking exasperated. "We've got a problem, don't we?"

"The pigs fucking know something is fishy about me," James said, feeling his world starting to slip away from him. He could potentially be in some big time trouble at the moment. "Jeff said the pigs started asking questions about me."

Mark's eyes widened. He actually looked kind of scared. "Well what—"

"Am I going to do? Well let's see…if the pigs come to question me, I'll make one attempt to play nice and let them drop me out of their minds completely."

"And if that doesn't happen?"

"Then they're dead." James wasn't fucking around. He was going to keep himself and the boys out of jail, even if he had to kill everyone on the planet to do so. _Stupid cops. I hate them I hate them I HATE THEM!_


	6. Digging Up Dirt

Other than a pair of matronly cleaning ladies, the only other people in the homicide department at six in the morning were detectives Armstong and Smothers. Armstrong was at a computer terminal, typing in queries to the FBI database as fast as his fingers would do while his partner busied himself with the names they had found in Tom's phone.

"Hardy seemed to have everybody in the whole damn company in this thing." Smothers finished transcribing the lists of names and numbers onto a sheet of paper so when he got a turn at the computer he'd be ready.

"I sure as hell wouldn't want to make any enemies with that lot," Armstrong grunted.

"Find anything?" Smothers asked, tapping his pen anxiously.

"Not yet... whoa!" Armstrong rubbed his eyes and stared at his partner. "I think we've hit the jackpot."

"Whaddaya got?" Smothers came over and stared at the computer screen.

"An unsolved double murder from '96. The victim, a man and his wife, were found mutilated in a farmhouse in West Virginia. Cause of death was exsanguination, but the coroner determined that the vics' hands and feet had been hacked off and their tongues cut out prior to death. Post-mortem, they'd been gutted and hung from hooks in the barn like two slabs of beef," Armstrong read from the screen.

"Two sets of murders over thirteen years. That's hardly compelling evidence." Not seeing a connection right away, Smothers waited for his partner's explanation.

"Check out the names." He pointed to the top lines on the screen. "Leonetta and Dale Wolfe."

"Same last name as the club owner. A nice coincidence?" Smothers asked, hopefully.

"I don't think so. If only the coroner would get us that report on the second body. Y'know, the one that was missing a lot of stuff," Armstrong stated "I'm willing to bet that all four murders are somehow linked."

"And that either Lawson, Hardy, or both are involved?"

A very sleepy Chief Medical Officer staggered into the squad room maybe ten minutes later.

"I hope you two are happy. I have trying to identify our one victim for the last twenty-four hours straight. It is not easy when there are no fingerprints or complete dental records to work with." He slapped his report on the desk, then collapsed in a nearby chair.

"You gonna tell us or do we have to guess?" Armstrong was likewise exhausted and in no mood to read through a lengthy report.

"I was able to make out a tattoo on what was left of the right shoulder. I ran it through the computer, hoping that maybe he had a record somewhere. It came back from the Virginia department of corrections. Seems like our bright boy did some time a few years back for assault and battery, uttering threats, carrying an unlicensed weapon..."

"Doc, if you don't tell us who it is, I'm gonna go postal. I am too fuckin' tired to play guessing games with you," Armstrong stated.

"Wolfe. Patrick Wolfe."

"Holy shit!" Armstrong turned back to the screen and scrolled the report. The Wolfe's had a son, Patrick, who was only seven years old at the time of the murders. Apparently he hid in a closet during the attacks."

"That's too eerie to be a coincidence. But what happened... did whoever kill his parents come back to finish the job or was this revenge gone wrong?"

"I dunno. Once we find out, we'll be a hell of a lot closer to solving this case. Anything else?"

"The bullets we took out of our second victim, Patrick's cousin Tim, do not match the shell casings we found or the bullets we removed from the wall in the club. It's either a copycat killer or completely unrelated."

"I doubt that." Smothers answered "Thanks doc, why don't you get some sleep? We'll let you know if we need anything else."

"I was going to do that anyway. Happy hunting."

The officers watched their bright boy of the morning stagger out.

"That give us something." Armstrong looked smug.

"Something is right. What do you think?" Smothers replied.

"I dunno yet. You cleared Matt and Jeff yet?" Armstrong asked.

"I'm waiting to get on the database. You know how it fucks up when two people try to use it from the same IP." Smothers responded.

"Gimme a second to print off this file and then it's all yours." Armstrong began to print. It was both old, cold, and long.

"What makes you think Lawson had something to do with the '96 case?" Smothers asked.

"Back then, he lived half a mile from them and witnesses say that they couldn't stand each other. There were numerous complaints about noise, vandalism, dead sheep..."

"You think he killed the parents then came back to finish the job thirteen years later? Why?"

"Maybe the kid recognized him? When we answer that question, we'll be halfway to solving this." Armstrong stuck the file into a folder for his night table reading and placed it on top of the medical examiner's report.

"What are we going to do?"

"If we can clear Matt and Jeff, then I think it's time we have a nice little chat with Mister James Lawson. Maybe if we shake his tree enough, a couple of apples will fall off. C'mon, Rookie, shake a leg. The database isn't going to search itself."

"Yes sir."

...............

Cooper got only a few hours of sleep before he felt someone crawling all over him. He tried to ignore it at first, just hoping against hope that the person he knew it was would just go away. But then he felt two tongues licking his face at the same time and that was too hard to ignore. "Connor, you and Snoopy have two seconds to stop that before both of you get killed.

Connor pouted and clutched his puppy tightly. "We just wanted to wake you up and tell you the news. You don't need to be mean to us."

Cooper sighed. "Well what's the news?"

"The cops were asking Jeff about Dad and us."

Cooper sat up so fast that he nearly bonked heads with Connor. "What?"

Connor nodded. "Your boyfriend that hasn't gone bye bye tried to play dumb but the cops probably didn't buy it. Daddy's probably gonna have to kill the pigs."

Cooper rolled off the bed and began to get dressed. This was so beyond not good that it wasn't funny. "Jeff isn't my boyfriend," he muttered when he realized he hadn't addressed that part of Connor's statement.

Connor giggled. "Of course he is. You like him and Tom and they're your boyfriends."

"No they are not," Cooper snapped. "Now would you shut your mouth?"

Connor just kept giggling. "You didn't deny that you liked them." Cackling, he kissed Cooper on the cheek before taking Snoopy and leaving.

_He is so annoying,_ Cooper thought with a shake of his head. _Too bad Dad couldn't keep his hands off of Mom. It would have been nice to be an only child._ He quickly finished getting dressed and then left the house through his window. He knew that going off by himself might not be the brightest idea he had ever had. There could be cops either watching his family or Jeff's, and the last thing he needed to do was provide proof that there was a connection between the two clans. But he really wanted to see Jeff at the moment, and that want was much stronger than his common sense.

_What am I even going to say when I get there though?_ he asked himself. _What am I even trying to prove by going over there? This is so fucked up. First I want Jeff, then I start lusting after Tom and now I want Jeff again...but did I even stop wanting Jeff in the first place? I don't think I did...I just added Tom on top of that lust. Ugh. Why do I have to want the both of them? I shouldn't even want one of them. Jeff's doesn't seem to be good for much of anything but a fuck and Tom is the most infuriating mother fucker on the planet. I should just wash my hands of both of them and move on._

Despite that thought, Cooper kept on going to Jeff's house. He cut through a whole bunch of backyards so he wouldn't be seen by someone watching from the street and ended up getting into Jeff's place by climbing in through the kitchen window. He looked around, wondering if anyone heard him come in. Judging from the fact that nobody could be heard coming his way, it didn't appear that they did. Sighing, he crept through the house and began searching for Jeff. _I'm being a complete idiot. They're just going to get pissed at me for coming in without permission._

Deciding to ignore that thought, he crept up the stairs and continued his search. He heard the sound of a shower running, so he crept over to the door he thought led to the bathroom and pressed his ear up against the door. Besides from the water falling, he could hear the sound of Jeff singing. His mind immediately began to wander into x-rated territory as he imagined Jeff all naked and wet. Licking his lips, he carefully opened the door and let himself in. He was sure that Jeff was going to hear him when he shut the door behind him, but Jeff was too distrated by his singing to notice.

_What the fuck am I doing? This is wrong on so many fucking levels,_ Cooper told himself as he walked across the steam filled room. He could see Jeff's shadow through the shadow curtain. He couldn't stop himself from doing this. Not that he really wanted to stop himsef. Oh no, he wanted to keep going down the road he was on. Because as wrong and perverted as it probably was, it was something that was way too good to resist.

"Matty? Is that you?" Jeff said all of a sudden. He opened up the shower curtain and gasped as he saw it was Cooper in there with him and not Matt. Cooper froze, completely aware that he was so totally busted. They both stared at each other, neither of them making any attempt to move or say anything. After about a minute, Jeff opened his mouth to speak. "Ma--"

Cooper didn't give Jeff a chance to finish that yell. He closed the distance between himself and the retired wrestler with two big steps and shut Jeff up with a kiss. Jeff immediately tried to push him away, but he wasn't having any of that. He shoved Jeff up against the shower wall, not giving a shit that his own clothes were getting soaking wet. Jeff continued his struggles for a moment but he finally gave in and started kissing Cooper back.

Cooper's hands began exploring Jeff's body, making the smaller man writhe up against the wall. He wasn't even thinking about what he was doing anymore. His instincts had taken complete control and they were not planning on giving that up any time soon. Growling lustfully, he removed his soaking wet shirt and tossed it out on to the bathroom floor. His cock was just begging to be let out at this point. Before he could oblige it though, Jeff broke the kiss.

"Wait wait," Jeff said breathlessly. "We can't--"

"Why not?" Cooper interrupted impatiently. "I want to and I'm pretty sure you want to too."

Jeff looked down and squeaked as he realized he had gotten hard during all of this. "But Tommy--"

"Isn't here," Cooper reminded him. He began kissing Jeff's neck. "Besides, he and I did it. Why not me and you?"

"Because it's not...I can't...you...oh fuck," Jeff mumbled. He let out a gasp as Cooper bit down hard enough to draw blood.

Cooper lapped up the blood greedily, absolutely positive that he had Jeff right where he wanted him. Now if he could just get rid of his pesky jeans...

"Jeff? Are you done in there yet?"

Jeff's eyes widened and Cooper groaned as they heard Matt. "Yeah, I'm coming out right now!" Jeff yelled. He shut off the water and slipped out of Cooper's grip. "You better get out of here," he whispered to Cooper. "If Matt sees you here like this, he's going to get mad. The cops put him in a bad enough mood as it is."

Cooper didn't give a rat's ass about Matt. He wanted to just grab Jeff and fuck him senseless right then and there. But Jeff already had a towel wrapped around his waist and he was running out the door before that plan could get restarted. _You can run but you can't hide forever Jeff,_ Cooper thought bitterly as he got out of the shower and reached for his shirt. _I will get your ass one of these times. You can fucking count on it._

...........

Armstrong had run out to grab some coffee and bagels while his partner did background checks on all three Hardy brothers going back to 1996. He returned to find his partner looking at three piles of printouts. One very small, one a little larger, and one almost an inch-thick.

"Double cream, double sugar and a blueberry bagel with plain cream cheese."

"Thanks." Smothers dove in immediately.

"Anything?" Armstrong asked.

"I found out a few things." Smothers brushed a few errant crumbs from the one file and handed it to his superior. "Matt Hardy... clean as a whistle. A couple minor fender-benders, but no charges at all."

"What about the other two?"

"Jeff. A few arrests for possession, public intox, lewd behavior... nothing major. He'd been suspended from the WWE and this TNA thing for violating their drug programs and missing shows, but no evidence of any violent crimes." This was the slightly larger pile.

"What about that third pile?" Armstrong look at it, wetting his lips in anticipation.

"This, my friend," Smothers announced, triumphantly sweeping his arm across the largest of the three stacks, "is the life story of one Andrew Thomas Baker nee Hardy."

Armstrong's eyes bulged. "Can I get the Reader's Digest condensed version?" he asked.

"I'll start with the juicy stuff. Not only is he married to Jeff, but they are also brothers." Smothers waited for that nugget of info to register.

"We're talking incest here? Wow! I knew they were from the dirty south, but..."

"Yeah," Smothers replied. "I'm not exactly sure how that played out, so I'll stick to what we can prove in court. He was born about eighteen months before Matt to the late Ruby and Gilbert Hardy, but apparently they gave him up for adoption soon after because of some financial difficulties."

"So maybe Jeff doesn't know he's fucking his own brother?"

"My impression is that Jeff knows but he also doesn't give a fuck." Smothers stated "Anyway, moving on. He moved through a few foster homes until he was adopted by Teresa and Robert Baker when he was six. Robert passed away when he was seventeen, Teresa earlier this year. After that we lose track of him until a dead transvestite turns up in an alley behind an L.A. dive bar in 1995. Nothing proven, but Hardy was one of the prime suspects."

"Then he drops off the map again. I guess he keeps his nose clean. Next time his name comes up is during the investigation into John Morrison's death. Y'know, the wrestler who supposedly drove his car off a cliff after a night out. Rumor had it the deceased was dating Jeff at the time."

"What better way to get with Jeff than to take his current lover out? But what does...?" Armstrong loved how thorough his partner was, but he hoped what this had to do with their current investigation would quickly become relevant.

"Goes to motive. So he hooks up with Jeff, but then Jeff dumps him for this guy Jack Tyler. To keep it short, Hardy attacks in this guy in a hospital and does a real number on him. Everyone swears that he was protecting Jeff from Tyler, who was attempting to rape him, but I don't believe that."

"Wrap it up... what does this have to do with our dead Wolfe's?" The more he learned, the less it made sense.

"As of now, nothing. But we have his phone in the club. We have mystery bullets being fired from a gun that is the same caliber as one registered to Mr. Hardy. If we can prove a link between Wolfe and Hardy, then I think we have this thing." Smothers rubbed his hands together. "And that link is named James Lawson."


	7. The Best Laid Plans

"Are you alright Jeff?" Matt asked. He had followed Jeff into his room to check on his little brother. "You look...kind of guilty."

Jeff shook his head. He was laying down on his bed, snuggling with Bunny and Lizard. He wasn't about to tell Matt about the incident with Cooper that had just taken place. Not only was it something Matt would not take well at all at the moment, but it was something he himself did not know what to do or think about. Part of him felt bad because he had not only kissed Cooper back, but he wouldn't have resisted like he should of if Cooper had gotten the chance to take things even further. Maybe he would have said "no" a couple more times, but the truth was, Cooper would have gotten what he wanted. And that's what made him feel bad. He felt like he was betraying Tom again.

_But he fucked Cooper too!_ he reminded himself. _He did it first...I mean, I know I fucked around with James way before that, but we were past that! At least I thought we were._

"Jeff?" Matt said again. "Jeffro?"

"Imma not guilty Matty," Jeff said quietly. "Imma worried."

Matt sighed. "What are you worried about?"

"Lots of stuff. Tom, us getting arrested, Tom, James and them doing something really bad, Tom..."

Matt bit his lip. "I need to show you something bro. But you have to promise not to immediately try to go out and do something stupid."

Jeff sat up. "Whaddya mean I gotta promise that? What's going on?"

"Just promise me, okay?" Matt insisted. "We need to be really careful here until we're sure those two cops are either off our trail or dead." The tone he used clearly implied he really didn't give a shit which of those two happened. Armstrong had especially left a bad taste in Matt's mouth, and Jeff just knew that if Matt was that put off by those guys, they didn't stand a chance if they questioned James.

"I promise," Jeff said. He looked down at Bunny and Lizard. "Do you guys promise too?" He waited for a moment before getting up and nodding at Matt. "They promise too Matty."

Matt rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything about Jeff's silliness. Instead, he just motioned for Jeff to follow him. Jeff did so, and he made sure Bunny and Lizard came with him. Once he got Matt to go away for a little bit, he needed to talk to the both of them about what he should do about Cooper. They had to have some kind of advice for him.

"While the cops were downstairs questioning you, I came up here cuz I got this really weird feeling." He got on to his computer and got on twitter. "And it was a good thing I did, because I found this..."

Jeff gasped as he read the tweets that Tom had posted. "Tommy!" He looked at Matt. "Matty, I think he's been kidnapped! Why else would he say "help me" but then have to go because some guy was coming?"

Matt shook his head. "I can't think of any other reason."

"Well we has to do something!" Jeff said. He started to turn around and run out of the room when he was grabbed on the arm by Matt. "What are you doing? Tommy's in trouble!"

"And you promised you wouldn't do anything stupid," Matt replied. "Look, I want him back too, but we have to be smart about this. All we know right now is that he went back to the club after James and them left and now he needs help. We don't know who has him, we don't know where he could possibly be kept, and we don't know if those two cops are still on our ass."

"Yeah but--"

"Jeff, I swear we will get him back, okay? We will find him. But we have to be careful, alright? We're not going to do him any good if we get ourselves arrested or kidnapped."

Jeff was aware of that, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. He hugged Bunny and Lizard tightly, wishing he knew what to do. _No wonder Cooper was such a grouchy pants when James and them got kidnapped by Patrick. This sucks big time._

............

"Stupid fucking Matt," Cooper growled as he crawled back up through his bedroom window. "Fucking could have had Jeff right then and there, but fucking Matt just had to interrupt. Stupid bastard. He's going to be lucky if I don't decide to gut him like a fucking fish." He shut the window once he was inside and began to take off his clothes. Not only was he stil soaking wet, but he had a hard on from hell. _Note to self: fuck Connor into oblivion. Flat out rape him if needed. This is one of the worst cases of blue balls I have ever had in my life._

"Cooper are you in here? Connor thinks you snuck out and holy shit! Cooper, I don't know if you're aware of this, but you're supposed to take you clothes off BEFORE you shower."

Cooper closed his eyes and groaned. "Dad, have you ever heard of knocking?" He opened his eyes so he could glare at James. "Seriously dude, we've had this discussion a million times now."

James shook his head. "Well I didn't think you would actually be in here! Connor told me you went bye bye."

"Well if he told you that, then why were you talking to me right before you opened the door?"

"Uh....I don't know." James looked down and raised his eyebrow. "So is you being in here soaking wet and hard as a rock one of those things we're not supposed to talk about again?"

Cooper nodded. "I would greatly appreciate it if you just forgot about this whole thing."

"Can I even ask if you really--"

"Snuck out? No, you are not allowed to ask about it. It involves me approaching the subject on my current state." Cooper didn't mention that he didn't want to discuss being at Jeff's with James. He did not want to have the discussion about why Lawsons and Hardys should not mix once again. He had heard it before and didn't need any reminders how fucked up their relationships all were.

"Oh. Well can we talk about--"

"I'm not talking about Mark," Cooper stated. "I'm tired, I'm sexually frustrated and now is just not a good time."

James sighed. "Fine. I'll drop it from now." He began backing out of the room. "I'll go tell Connor to help with...well I'll just tell him to just go to your room."

"Thanks," Cooper said. He looked down at himself and realized that entire conversation had taken place while he was naked. _That should have been a lot more awkward than it was. I mean, I always felt awkward whenever I had a conversation with Dad while he was naked. Then again, he was always naked with Mark and that was probably the problem._

Bad images filled Cooper's brain and he shuddered. He had walked in on Mark and James fucking way too many times over the years. _Great, now I not only have to pretend that Connor's Jeff when I'm fucking him, but now I have try to make those scary ass mental pictures go away while I'm at it. This is going to be so much fun._

...

"Partner, we've been pouring through all this crap for hours and we're no closer to proving this link between Hardy, Lawson, Wolfe, and God knows who all else." Smothers grabbed his coffee cup. To his annoyance, it was empty. "And I'm outta fuckin' coffee!"

"Well, go get some more!" Armstrong groaned, starting to read through the Tom Hardy dossier for the third time. Not a whole lot about this case made a lot of sense, and Tom's disappearance was the cherry on that sundae that was for sure.

At every turn, the name "Lawson", "Hardy", or "Wolfe" seemed to rear it's ugly head, but putting it all together was another kettle of fish altogether. It was like the puzzle with the two interlocking rings. Easy if you knew the trick, but almost impossible if you were hoping to stumble onto the solution and that's exactly what they were doing.

Armstrong drummed his fingers on the desktop while he waited for his partner to return with fresh coffee.

"I know that expression, partner. You've got something on your mind." Smothers set his fresh cup of coffee down and looked at his fellow officer.

"I think the best idea is if we talk to Lawson as soon as possible." Armstrong rubbed his eyes, inadvertently giving away how tired he was.

"I agree, but maybe we should let the day shift handle it. We've been doin' double shifts three days in a row and I'm dead where I stand. Fuck, my wife hasn't seen me for more than two minutes in almost a week," Smothers replied.

"Tell ya what... why don't you go home, get some rest, do what ya gotta do and I'll grab you around four o'clock and we can go talk to Lawson then." Armstrong was tired, but he was not nearly as tired as his partner. He'd pulled consecutive doubles before, and for a longer duration than this. Plus, his wife had left him almost a year ago so it was not like there was anyone to go home to.

"That's the best idea I've heard all week." Smothers stretched "I'll see you in about eight hours."

...

It felt like no time at all before Smothers' cell phone rang, but the eight hours had almost elapsed.

"Be down in ten minutes." What he really wanted to do was go back to sleep, but the sooner they closed this case, the sooner he could go back to a normal sleep cycle. Smothers staggered into the bathroom where he quickly washed his face and shaved, hoping that he would look at least half awake.

"Another day, another whatever..." he growled. His reflection growled back, neither of them looking forward to another long day of police work.

He continued to stare at his reflection until he heard the impatiently beeping of a car horn outside. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He went through the motions of dressing and grabbing all his cop stuff, then sprinted down the stairs and out his front door.

Armstrong was waiting in the front of his own car, deciding not to take the company vehicle for this trip.

"Did I wake you?" Armstrong asked innocently.

Smothers grunted something totally incoherent.

"If you ain't awake yet, this will wake you up." Armstrong handed Smothers another thick folder. "After you left, I expanded my search to include his family."

"Anything interesting? I really don't think I have time to read all this." Smothers flipped idly through the sixty or so sheets of paper.

"I think I found our connection between The Hardys and Lawson. Mark Calaway."

"Names sounds familiar." Smothers reached for a steaming cup of coffee in the console drink holder.

"Black, just like you take it," Armstrong answered. "Calaway? You probably know him by his ring name... The Undertaker?"

Smother nodded, taking a sip of the strong beverage. "What's the connection?"

"Well, he's been friends with Matt and Jeff since '99. Tom, not so much. Rumor has it that during a hell in a cell match eight months ago, he took Tom's knee out on purpose."

"And Lawson...?"

"Apparently, they've been fuck buddies for almost three decades," Armstrong smiled.

Smothers rolled his eyes. "Man, the more I learn about this crowd, the more I wish I'd listened to Warshovski and never volunteered for anything. Get in the Sergeant's good graces, yeah right!"

"You want more...?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"I ran his kids. Cooper Benjamin and Connor Michael Lawson. Now there's an interesting dynamic. Everything from running away from home to petty theft to suspected drug trafficking to assault with a deadly weapon to blackmail... the list goes on and on. Never been able to pin anything on either of them." Armstrong answered

"Again, you're losing me. What does that have to do with all this?"

"Right now, leverage. If Lawson won't talk, we'll go after his kids." Armstrong answered. Threatening a loved one, especially when that loved one had a whole family of skeletons in his closet, was one of his favorite tactics and it never failed.

….

A loud whining woke Connor up from his slumber. He had gone to Cooper's room because his dad told him to and gotten fucked into oblivion for it. And by oblivion, he meant four fucking times. He rarely had the patience for one or two fuckings, but Cooper had refused to let him go. Eventually they had both fallen asleep, but now Snoopy was sad that he had been left alone for so long.

Connor tried to get out of bed but Cooper refused to let go. "Not yet," Cooper mumbled. "You're not going anywhere yet."

"But Snoopy's lonely," Connor said.

"Snoopy can wait a little while longer," Cooper insisted. He pulled Connor closer to him and began kissing the younger man's neck. "It's not going to kill him."

Connor squirmed underneath his big brother. This tickled more than he wanted to admit. "How can you be horny again?"

"I just am," Cooper replied. He settled himself in between Connor's legs and grabbed a hold of his wrists in case he decided to struggle.

Connor pouted. "You just want me to be Jeff. You love him and Tom and not me anymore."

Cooper groaned. "Don't start that shit Connor. Seriously, I do not want to hear it right now."

"Well why not? It's the truth." Connor attempted to yank his wrists free so he could push Cooper away. "Get off. I'm done."

"Like hell you are," Cooper growled.

"Yes I am," Connor insisted. "I'm done I'm done I'm—OW! You fucking bastard!"

Cooper, who had taken the liberty of shoving his dick back inside of Connor without any fucking warning at all, smirked. "Told you that you weren't done yet."

Connor scowled as Cooper began fucking him yet again. Cooper was always so fucking demanding. Deciding against making the effort to shove Cooper off now, Connor began biting the bastard as hard as he could. "Damn it Connor!" Cooper growled. "Take it easy with that before I knock your teeth out!"

"No," Connor replied.

Cooper glared at him before starting to fuck him even harder than before. Connor responded to that by biting down harder than that. The two of them were desperately trying to outdo the other one in the causing pain department and the bed was creaking and groaning like it wanted to break at any second. Connor bit down really hard on Cooper's shoulder, drawing blood and making the older man come really hard. Cooper immediately grabbed Connor's dick and stroked it really hard. The feeling of the nails scraping against it made Connor lose it yet again and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he saw stars.

"Damn it to hell Connor," Cooper muttered as he rolled back to his side of the bed. "That fucking hurt."

Connor glared at him. "At least your whole back doesn't fucking hurt now. You're a meanie Cooper. A big fat meanie."

Cooper rolled his eyes. "I may be big, but I'm definitely not fat." He got off the bed, walked across the room and let Snoopy into the room. Snoopy ran in and jumped on the bed with Connor.

Connor blinked in surprise. "Why did you do that? You don't like Snoopy in your room."

Cooper shrugged. "I just felt like it." He laid back down next to Connor. "Don't question my motives dude. Just be happy the mutt's in here."

Connor grinned and kissed Snoopy on the head. "Is it cuz you'll have to learn to be nice to Lizzie if you get with both Jeff and Tom more often?"

"Connor shut up. First of all, we need to find Tom first, and second of all—"

"Cooper and Tom and Jeff, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G…."

Cooper groaned. "Oh God, just kill me now."

Connor giggled. This was just way too much fun.


	8. No Way Out

"Why do I get the feeling that today isn't gonna be one of those days I tell my kids about?" Smothers looked out the window at the countryside roll past.

"Just follow me lead and everything will work out. One of two things will happen... either we'll have Lawson in custody for the Wolfe killings or we'll have Tom Hardy for them."

_Or we'll end up staring down the wrong end of a gun. _Smothers focused on the scenery, trying to calm the butterflies. "You do know where this Lawson character lives, right?"

"Yeah... not what you expected, right?" The car was passing through one of the more affluent suburbs.

"Well, yeah. I figured we'd be heading for the sticks." The houses they were passing were minimum seven-figure range.

"I ran Lawson's family after you went home. His father owned Likansuk porn. Passed down to our boy when daddy kicked the bucket. Apparently he lets others run the company; he just collects the checks," Armstrong said. "According to his last tax return, dude's worth about twenty million."

Based on what he'd learned about Lawson, Smothers found it humorous that the man would do anything as law-abiding as filing a tax return.

"If he's worth that much, maybe he should invest in getting his house fixed." Smothers looked at the building his partner was pulling up to.

"Doesn't impress me as the type who cares about physical possessions," Armstrong answered. "Now just remember to follow my lead."

"I know the good-cop-bad-cop thing." Smothers checked that his service revolved was loaded before getting out of the car. "Just once, I'd like to be bad cop."

"Next time." Armstrong boldly walked up to the front door, narrowing avoiding the toys scattered on the front walkway.

"Aren't his kids a bit old to playing with G.? Even ones that are headless?"

"The more involved I get, the less surprised I become." Armstrong rapped on the front door.

Smothers looked around, his nerves on high alert as he waited for the door to be answered. His partner banged louder when it wasn't answered past enough to suit him, even adding the patented "Open up, police!" spiel to his bangs.

"Do they know we're..." Smothers' question was interrupted when the front door was slammed open.

"What the fuck is the meaning of this? Can't a guy sit down to dinner with his family in peace in this town any more?"

"James Lawson?"

"Who wants to know... Connor, if you don't stop whining and eat your goddamn vegetables, I'm gonna knock your teeth out and feed them to Snoopy and you'll be drinking your meals for the rest of your life!" James barked. The noises from inside immediately stopped.

"I'm Detective Armstrong; my partner, Detective Smothers: we're with homicide." Both cops flashed their shields.

_Must play nice. Give them one chance to leave._

"What can I do for you fuh... gentlemen this evening?"

"We'd like to ask you a few questions about a family that you used to be neighbors with... the Wolfe's."

James' eyes narrowed slightly. "I ain't sure what the hell you want me to tell ya. I ain't lived near them for over a decade." It seemed like James was planning on conducting the interview on the front porch steps.

"Do you mind if we discuss this inside? I don't think you want your neighbors to get an earful of this."

James really didn't give a shit what his neighbors thought, considering that most of them were scared of his clan and those that weren't were just plain stupid.

"Whatever floats your boats. Come on in."

Armstrong and Smothers followed Lawson inside, Smothers' uneasiness growing with each step. When the door closed behind them, he had this feeling that he was never going to step outside again.

James took one look at the empty place at the table and growled. "Connor Michael Lawson, get your ass back to this table right now and finish your dinner or there will be no ice cream for you for an entire year!!! Don't tempt me, boy... you have until I count to three to be back at that table... one, two..."

No sooner had 'two' escaped his lips then Connor sprinted back into the room and sat down.

"Kids..." James muttered under his breath. "They're gonna be the death of me one of these days. I am going to have a nice chat with these officers and I expect the two of you to finish eating then clean up this shit heap!"

"But Dad..."

"No buts, Cooper! I know most of this crap is your brother's, but Mark is gonna be home later and you know how he gets if he trips over things."

"Not like Mark gives a shit about me..."

"Then do it for me, okay?"

"C'mon, Cooper... it'll be fun." Connor yelled, his mouth full of some unidentifiable green thing.

"No it won't and close your fuckin' mouth when you chew. Once it goes in that big mouth of yours, I don't wanna see it ever again." Cooper turned his attention to his dinner.

"Cooper?"

"What...?" When he looked up, Connor sprayed him with the contents of his cheeks.

"That's it. I'm gonna kill the fuck outta you so bad you won't be able to play with your toys forever!" Cooper chased his brother down the hall, and up the stairs into the bedrooms where the sounds of either a fight or rough sex soon made their way downstairs.

"Aren't you going to...?" Armstrong asked.

"Wouldn't do a lick o' good," James answered. "The only person those two ever listened to was their mother and she's been dead far too long for me to bring her back into things. So why exactly are you bothering me?"

"I'm sure you watch the news," Armstrong replied, although on first impressions, Lawson did not look like the news-watching type, more the Jerry Springer-Steve Wilkos-Maury Povich-watching type.

"Not recently." He pointed to the television. It looked like the screen had been kicked in. "Cooper got pissed off when I told him he couldn't watch wrestling anymore." That incident had occurred several weeks ago, but James had been too busy being kidnapped to buy a new set.

"Well, we're investigating a double murder that took place at the Wolfepack. Person or persons unknown killed the owner and his cousin, the latter in a particularly gruesome manner."

"And my name came up how?" James queried, still trying to play the nice father.

"We did a background check on the family and we came across another unsolved double. You didn't like the family much, according to the original file."

_That's a fuckin' understatement. I liked those assholes about as much as I like the Hardy brothers._

"We had disagreements, but I don't... excuse me." James grabbed a broomstick laying nearby and banged the ceiling several times. "Would you fuck a little quieter please?" The banging from upstairs immediately ceased. "Now where was I?"

"Uhmm..." The outburst had clearly rattled both officers. Armstrong couldn't remember the last question he'd asked and Smothers was clearly trying to make himself believe he hadn't heard what he'd just heard. "you were talking about disagreements with the Wolfe's."

"The parents just had no control over their kid," James replied; irony obviously there given his current family state. "He was the shit from day one."

"If you don't mind me saying, maybe he learned it from watching you with your children."

James smirked cockily. _One more comment like that and you'll be missing a few teeth. _"I ain't perfect, but I draw the line when his kid threatens mine with a BB gun." Actually it was Connor's BB gun, and it had fallen over the fence while Connor was shooting at squirrels, but that wasn't really relevant in James' mind.

"According to witnesses you stormed over to the Wolfe's house..."

"I went over there to discuss their son, yes." _Watch it! _

"I believe your exact words were 'control your kid or I'll string you both up in your barn like the animals you are!'" Armstrong read from the original case file.

_Is that what I said? At least I ain't a liar. _James smirked evilly. One more question like that last one and he'd be able to spend some father son time with his boys. Nothing like bonding with them while they were disposing of recent kills and if the vics were cops, that made it all the more fun.

..............

"No!" Connor yelled. "Pull me back in! Cooper please, I sorry! I didn't mean it!"

Cooper rolled his eyes. Despite what James had obviously believed, they had not actually been fucking. It had been a close thing, but then Connor decided to make things worse for himself by attempting to stab Cooper in the leg. So Cooper was now doing the only reasonable thing there was to do: he was dangling Connor out the window by one ankle. "You're a fucking little liar!" he said irritably. "You meant it and you know it!"

Connor whined and whimpered. "Cooper please, I don't wanna die! Pull me back up!"

"I doubt you'll die from this height. You might be paralyzed for the rest of your life and have severe head trauma, but..."

"COOPER! LET ME BACK IN! I DON'T LIKE THIS!"

Cooper sighed and pulled Connor back into the room. He didn't believe for a second that Connor had learned his lesson, but the screaming was going to attract way too much attention. "You listen to me you little brat," he growled. "If you--"

Connor interrupted him socking him right in the jaw. "You're a bastard!" Connor gowled. "I no like you no more!"

Cooper groaned. Connor had just fucking hit him really hard. Now really pissed off, Cooper kicked Connor in the face before putting him in the Masterlock. Connor slipped out of it though and he turned around and speared Cooper to the floor. The two of them began rolling all over the floor, with Connor attempting to strangle Cooper and Cooper attempting to regain control of his feral little brother.

The phone suddenly rang, putting an end to the fighting. "I gots it!" Connor yelled. He jumped up up and answered the phone as fast as he could. "Hello? Hi Marky! No, Daddy talking to the cops. No, don't get mad! It's a good thing! I ended up not having to eat my vegetables cuz--" He quickly put the phone away from his ear and Cooper, who was on the other side of the room, could hear Mark yelling. "Cooper! Mark's using naughty language!"

Cooper got up and snatched the phone away from him. "Quit yelling at him!" he snarled at Mark. "He didn't fucking do anything to you!"

"I wasn't yelling AT him!" Mark said defensively. "I was just yelling because this is not fucking good! James should not be talking to those cops alone!"

"Well he is," Cooper replied.

"Well get down there and make sure he doesn't say something stupid!"

"First of all, do not fucking order me around. Second of all, if I go down there, Connor's going to follow me. And if he follows me, those pigs might ask him a question! Do you see any good coming from that?"

"No but--"

"But what? You think Dad even wants us down there? If I went down there right now, he would kick my ass right after we killed the cops."

Mark sighed. "Look, I know okay? But since I'm not there, I feel totally fucking helpless."

Cooper shook his head. "Yeah well maybe you shouldn't have left. Oh wait, I forgot, that's what your best at."

"That's low Cooper. It really is."

"Maybe you shouldn't give me so much material to work with then."

"Cooper--"

Cooper hung up, not interested in hearing anymore. "Asshole," he muttered.

Connor tilted his head to the side. "You should ease up on Marky. He's not that bad."

Cooper glared at him. "Do you want dangled out that window again?"

"No..."

"Well just shut the fuck up then."

"Meanie."

"Yup. It's what I'm best at."

…………

"How much fucking longer is this going to take?" James squirmed in the recliner. The cops seemed to have an endless supply of questions which James either did not want to answer or was unable to answer because of his involvement. Either way, the longer the interview went, the less chance the cops had of leaving his house intact.

"Until we're satisfied," Smothers answered. Unlike Lawson, he felt that the longer the interview went on, the better the result would be.

"That'll be the day," James grumbled, his patience wearing thinner by the moment.

"What about Tom Hardy?" Armstrong asked.

"What about him?" James retorted. "Are you ask me about everyone I've ever come in contact with?"

"If we have to; yes. You had a physical relationship with his husband Jeff, correct?"

"I fucked the twink if that's what you're getting at." James would've given his right nut to have one of Mark's hunting rifles nearby. "And that's all it was."

"So you had nothing to do with Mr. Hardy getting his throat slashed on national television?"

_Fuck, they really are signing their death warrants. Tom told me Matt took care of the tapes... another lie?_

"If you two wanna keep fishing, I suggest you find a lake somewhere because I have had enough of your accusations." James rose from his chair. "Now get the fuck outta my house if you know what's good for you!"

"Hit a nerve, have we Lawson?" Armstrong asked smugly. It was time to play his trump card. "I suggest either you become a little more cooperative or maybe we go back to the station and start digging a little deeper. Who knows what we may discover if we started looking into the past of, say, your kids?"

Armstrong soon discovered that the trump card he thought he held was useless. In two seconds, James had lunged forward and had his hand wrapped around Armstrong's throat.

"Nobody threatens my kids and lives... do you understand?"

Armstrong nodded frantically. Never before in his career had he miscalculated so badly.

"I would suggest you put my partner down." James heard the unmistakeable click of a bullet being chambered. He looked over his shoulder at Smothers who had freed his revolver and was calmly pointing it at him. "I am not afraid to use this."

"You're not going to shoot me. You haven't got enough hair on your sack to pull that trigger." All his life Lawson had acted quickly, and this time was no exception. Rather than try to lull Smothers into security, then take him out, Lawson threw the semi-conscious body of Armstrong at the other cop. They collided, and James jumped on top of both of them, fists swinging wildly. The only sounds were breaking bones, screams of pain and the occasional yell as James Lawson did what he always did when he was threatened. He fought back and as usual the consequences were deadly.


	9. Family Ties

"Connor, Cooper, get your asses down here right this fucking minute!" James yelled.

"Uh, oh. Imma tell Dad it was all your fault!"

"The hell you are!" Cooper chased his little brother down the stairs.

"Daddy, it wasn't my fault! Cooper..." Connor skidded to a halt, Cooper banging into his back.

"Fuck me you little... what the hell happened?" Cooper blinked his eyes, as if trying to make sure the scene in front of him was what really happened.

"Nothing happened," James answered "You've been my son for twenty-seven years. I should think that two dead bodies in the living room would not be out of the ordinary by now."

"I mean... shit balls Dad, what the hell did they say to you?" Cooper demanded.

"Yeah. Last time you got this angry, you slit Tom's throat on national television," Connor pointed out.

James sniggered. Not one of his proudest moments, but anything to get the message across. "Funny you should mention that..."

Snoopy trotted downstairs, having been awakened by all the yelling. He looked at the two dead cops on the floor, then at Connor, whining softly.

"See what Grandpa did?" Connor bent down and petted his puppy.

"You better tell that damn dog that Grandpa did it to protect his daddy. Cops said they were gonna start digging into your pasts if I didn't start talking," James replied

Snoopy barked, then ran over to the bodies. He sniffed Armstrong, then lifted his leg and peed on him.

James laughed, while Connor ran over to scold Snoopy. "Bad doggie. No tinkling on Grandpa's carpet. Bad!"

Snoopy whined, then sulked away.

"Who was that on the phone?" James quickly changed the subject before another laughing fit took him.

"Marky." Connor answered "He used bad words though."

"Oh... did he say anything important? Like when his sorry ass was coming home?"

"Cooper took the phone away from me," Connor moped.

"Well boy?" James asked his eldest son.

"Not really," Cooper answered.

"What do you mean 'not really'?" James asked.

"Well, I kinda hung up on the motherfucker," Cooper replied.

"You what? "James had the 'deer in the headlights' look he used for those rare occasions when somebody else did something really stupid.

"Dad, I'm..." Cooper's explanation, or apology, or whatever the hell he was going to say was interrupted when Mark made a surprise entrance, damn near kicking the door off its hinges with his one good leg.

"What the fuck is wrong with you boy?" Mark made a beeline for Cooper. "Don't you ever fuckin' hang up on me like that again or you'll be sorry!"

"Fuck, Mark, one minute you wanna be my dad and the next you wanna kill me. You really should get some help," Cooper said, mentally preparing himself to duck in case Mark swung his crutch at him.

"Help, boy? By the time I'm finished with you, it ain't gonna be me that... what the hell is that?" Mark had seen the mess on the floor.

"You of all people should be able to recognize dead cops when you see them," James stated.

"Stupid question. I mean what are they doing there... on the living room floor?"

"Decomposing, I think. C'mon Mark, it's not the first time it's happened." James tried to pacify Mark's increasing anger.

"I go away for an hour to pick up my pain meds and I come back to this. Fuck, what were you thinking?" Mark looked ready to tear his own hair out. "It's bad enough that we had two cops breathing down our necks in the first place, but now this!"

"Maybe no one will notice?" James shrugged.

"And maybe Tom will magically appear on our doorstep," Mark answered. "If you had a clue you'd be dangerous."

"I am dangerous," James pointed out.

Mark stopped. Sometimes it just wasn't worth it. For all his abilities, sometimes James had a mind of a ten year old. A very fucked-up ten year old, but a ten year old nonetheless.

"You know what this means, right?" Mark stared at the three Lawsons.

"We're gonna need new carpet?" Connor asked innocently.

"If we're lucky, that's the only thing we're gonna need," Mark replied.

"Do you want some good news, Marky?" Cooper asked.

"There is some?"

"Yeah. I still hate your guts," Cooper replied.

"You really should thank Patrick for your continuing health," Mark grimaced. "'Coz if he hadn't shot me, you'd be in the hospital right now."

"Try it, Deadman," Cooper taunted Mark.

"There will be plenty of time for you to kick each other's asses later," James said, trying to play peacemaker before someone else got killed. "Right now, we have to clean up this mess. Any ideas?"

Nobody said anything. Cooper and Mark were still glaring at each other and Connor was humming and rocking back and forth.

James groaned. "Oh great. This is going to be so much fucking fun."

...

"Damn it, don't those fucking Lawsons ever asnwer their phones?" Matt asked impatiently.

Jeff looked up at his older brother. He, Bunny and Lizard were playing Sims on Matt's computer. "Which one are you trying to call?"

"I've called all of them!" Matt told him. "Multiple times! And I've done it on three different phones. They aren't picking up."

Jeff bit his lip. He knew he probably shouldn't say what he was thinking, but he did anyway. "They could be getting rid of the bodies."

Matt just stared at him. "Bodies?"

"Of the cops," Jeff clarified. "If the cops asked the wrong thing and wouldn't leave..." He didn't even have to finish that sentence. They both knew what the Lawsons would do.

Matt shook his head. "This is insane. We're protecting psychotic murderers. We should be HANDING the whole lot of them over to the cops on a silver platter."

"But--" Jeff started to object.

"But what?" Matt interrupted.

"But they're our friends," Jeff said in a tiny voice.

Matt stared at him incredulously. "Are you on crack?" he asked after a long moment of silence. "James HATES us. He might have liked you at one point, but when Tom fucked Mark, that turned him against all of us."

"Cooper and Connor like us."

"I honestly doubt that."

"Well Mark's our friend, and if we expose the Lawsons, we expose him too!" Jeff saved his game and then shut it off so he could get on the internet. "We can't do that to him. That's not nice."

Matt sighed in frustration. "Damn it, this is just too fucked up. How do we even know that James hasn't done something to Tom? He tried to murder Tom in front of thousands of people before. It wouldn't shock me if he was--"

"Matty stop!" Jeff pleaded. "James hasn't done anything to Tom."

"You don't know that."

"I just feel it, okay? Besides, if it was James, do you really think Tom wouldn't have put that in his tweets?"

"But if James is wearing a mask...oh wait, his temper and shit would give him away." Matt shook his head. "Okay, you're probably right. It's probably not James and his crew. But who the fuck could it be then?"

"I don't know," Jeff replied as he logged on to Twitter. "You're the brains here Matty. Imma just the sexy one."

Matt's lips twitched. "I'm just as sexy as you are."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Nuh uh. Everyone knows that Imma the...." Jeff just happened to look at the computer screen and his jaw dropped. There was a new tweet from Tom and it went exactly like this: ...tell Jeffers I miss him and Bunny and Lizard and I'm sorry! Oh fuck, not again!!! Bye!!!

"What is it?" Matt asked. He walked over and looked at the computer from over Jeff's shoulder. "Oh man," he muttered. "Oh man oh man oh man."

"Watch them," Jeff ordered as he handed Bunny and Lizard to Matt. He was on his feet and running out of the room and then out of the house before Matt could stop him. He almost went to get into Tom's Viper when he realized that the keys to it were on the microwave in the kitchen. Instead of going back in and more than likely getting slowed down by Matt, he just took off running again. There really wasn't a lot of rational thinking going on in his brain at the moment. All he could think about was Tom. Tom was in trouble. Tom needed help and he needed it now.

Jeff wasn't sure if Matt was chasing after him or not. He didn't take the time to look back and check. He just kept sprinting towards the club because that was the last place he knew Tom had been. Even if whoever had his husband didn't have Tom anywhere near that area, it was still the only place that he had to look.

When he got to the place, he slipped into the alley and stopped so he could catch his breath. His lungs felt like they had been set on fire. He leaned up against the building next to the club and sank down on to the dirty ground. His legs didn't feel like they could support him anymore. _I should go in the club,_ he decided. _Maybe someone left a clue about where Tom got taken that everyone else has missed._

His phone rang suddenly, scaring the shit out of him. Feeling weak and shaky, he struggled to get it out of his pocket so he could answer it. "Hello?"

"Uh....you called?" It was Cooper.

"That was Matty," Jeff said, trying to hold back tears.

"Oh. What did he want?"

"To come up with a plan to save Tom. And I do too. Tommy's in trouble."

"Well yeah I--"

"Cooper...we've seen messages from him." Jeff quickly told Cooper the tweets he had seen from his missing husband.

"Oh boy," Cooper said. "Fucking shit balls....where are you at now?"

"In the alley by the club," Jeff told him. "Imma go in and--"

"You're not going in by yourself," Cooper said immediately. "Hide out and don't come out until I get there. You understand me?"

"But--"

"Jeff! This is not a fucking discussion! You're going to do what I say and you're going to do it now. Do you understand me?"

"Okay," Jeff said reluctantly. "I understand."

"Good. I'll see you soon."

Jeff sighed as Cooper hung up on him. His thoughts were going back to Tom's tweet. Tom was thinking about him. He had a bad feeling that Tom was in a situation where he should only be thinking about survival, but still, his thoughts were on him. Any anger Jeff felt about Tom fucking Cooper disappeared completely and he got out his cell phone so he could send a tweet of his own to Tom. He felt like he needed to send it in case Tom got a chance to see it.

_Hang on baby...we're gonna get you back. I promise._

.....

"I gotta go," Cooper announced.

James looked at him in shock. "What? Why?"

"Tom's alive. We don't know where he is, but he's alive. Jeff and Matt got a message from him. He needs help."

"Ugh." That was James's respond to that.

Cooper rolled his eyes. "Stop being difficult Dad. I'm going to help Jeff. You can get rid of these bodies on your own."

"But--"

"Just let him go Lawson," Mark interrupted. "It's what he wants."

Cooper just stared at Mark. Now he was more confused than ever. _If he doesn't decide whether he wants to try to be my dad now or if he still wants to kill me, I may slap him._

"Cooper?" Connor said, waving his hand in front of Cooper's face. "Aren't ya gonna go?"

"Yeah. I'll see you guys later." With that, Cooper took off as fast as he could. He had some Hardys to hunt down.

...........

"Ugh," James repeated.

"I hope that's in reference to the mess in front of us." Mark couldn't take his eyes from the two bodies.

"Yeah," James answered, "I'm gonna need to replace the whole fuckin' carpet, aren't I?"

Mark looked at James, shaking his head in amazement. "You just killed two cops and you're more concerned about the carpet. Shouldn't you be trying figure out what the hell we're going to do with the bodies?"

"I thought I'd leave that up to you," James shrugged.

"As usual... sometimes that's all I think I'm good for," Mark sighed. "Cleaning up your messes."

"But you do such a good job," James said trying to make Mark feel a little better.

"Right now, that's about the only thing I do a good job at."

"Look, right now Cooper knows you're trying to be a Dad to him and he's rebelling. He knows what buttons to push to get a reaction out of you and that's what he's doing. Don't let him get to you. He's a stubborn son of a bitch, that's for sure, but deep-down I think he's glad to know that you truly do love him."

"You do?"

"Yeah... I just wish you would've done this before he went through puberty. I swear explaining sex to that boy aged me ten years," James replied.

"I still love you Marky," Connor interrupted, hating to be left out of anything. He even went so far as to forcibly hug the Deadman. "Even when you do use naughty words."

"Gee, thanks." The sarcasm wasn't lost on one person.

"Mark, the kid's tryin'." James pointed out.

"An' Snoopy loves you too." Connor added. Upon hearing his name, Snoopy returned to the scene of his crime and lay down at Mark's feet, tail wagging, and yipping softly. "See?"

"Yeah, great. That doesn't solve our other problem." Mark turned back to the mess on the floor, perhaps hoping that it had cleaned itself up in the meantime. No such luck.

"But you'll take care of it?" James asked hopefully.

"Don't I always?" Mark replied.

"Fuckin' A!" James exclaimed. "I'll be back later."

"Just where the hell are you going?" Mark demanded.

"To make sure YOUR son doesn't do what I think he wants to do." James answered. _If he fucks Jeff, then hell help us all... _


	10. Release

Cooper found Jeff hiding out behind a dumpster in the alley by the club. "Doesn't that stink?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah but I hadda make sure Matty didn't find me."

"You didn't call him and tell him?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Jeff shrugged. "I just thought we should be the ones hunting for clues."

Cooper didn't press the issue anymore after that. It wasn't like he was upset that Matt wasn't there. Hell, he was downright estatic that he was getting to spend some alone time with Jeff. "Well let's go in then," he said. He led Jeff around to the back of the building so they could go in through that door. "Dad killed the cops that questioned you guys so we don't have to worry about them anymore."

Jeff frowned. "What did they say that set him off?"

"They threatened to go after me and Connor."

"Oh. What would they have found if they had done it?"

Cooper shrugged as he opened the back door and went into the club. "Different stuff." He shut the door after Jeff came in. "Petty theft, drug trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon....none of that stuff was ever proven the first time around. We've never even been arrested for that stuff. The pigs suspected us, but they didn't have the proof."

Jeff shoved his hands into his pocket. "Is there anything they could have proved?"

"Only that we've run away from home before." Cooper began looking around for anything that could give him a clue as to who had taken Tom. It was hard to concentrate though when Jeff was questioning him like this.

"Why did you guys run away? I mean, you guys seem pretty attached to James."

Cooper nodded. "We are. Connor's running away really wasn't really ever running away. At least it wasn't according to him. He would just wonder off to go look for something and then not come back on his own. Usually Dad, Mark or I found him, but a couple of times the pigs found him and had to bring him home."

"Oh. What about you?"

Cooper stopped and looked down. This really wasn't something he talked about a whole lot. "What about me?"

"Why'd you run away?" Jeff was trying to sound casual and look around at the same time, but this conversation had the majority of his attention.

"A lot of reasons....I was sixteen when I did it. It was not long after I found out Mark was my biological dad."

Jeff stopped looking around and looked at Cooper in shock. "Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"That's...oh my God! I never noticed it before, but you do kind of look--"

"Don't!" Cooper ordered. "Don't you dare say I look like that jackass!"

Jeff faltered. "But--"

"You don't know him as well as you think you do. They got drunk and that was the only reason she let him touch her. And then when he knocked her up with me, he refused to take any responsibility for me. According to him, I was Mom's problem." He shook his head. His brain was trying to tell him to shut up and just leave it at that, but his mouth wasn't listening. "Paul Bearer told me but I didn't believe him. Then I found Mom's diary and it said it too. So I confronted Dad and Mark about it. Mark used to drink a lot back then and he was having problems with Dad because he was keeping up a marriage with Jodi Lynn and making a half ass attempt at raising their kid Gunner with her."

"Why--"

"Would he do that? Because it wasn't like it is now. Wrestlers weren't openly gay back then. It was all done behind closed doors. They were all afraid of getting fired because of it. Anyway, I confronted them and Mark continued to deny me. That really bothered me for a long time. He basically made me feel like I wasn't good enough for him."

Jeff winced. "What did James say about it all?"

Cooper shook his head bitterly. "Dad stood up for me, but it wasn't like it meant anything because he defended Mark too. And then on top of that shit, there was other shit happening in my life and I just couldn't take it anymore. I just bailed." He finally shut up, deciding not to get into any more detail than that, no matter how many more questions Jeff asked. The year he spent away from home was not something that was talked about by anyone in the family. According to Glenn, James had gone through absolute hell during that time and had made Mark as miserable as he could during that time too.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Why? It's not your problem." Cooper began looking around again.

"Is he still uh...I mean, is Mark still--"

"Denying me?" Cooper shrugged. "I don't know what he's doing anymore. One minute he's trying to be my dad and the next he's ready to fucking kill me. I wish he would just keep out of my way. He fucking....wait, why am I even talking about this?" He shook his head. "Tom's in trouble and you have me talking about this bullshit. What the fuck has gotten into you?"

Jeff shrugged. "I don't know." He sighed. "Imma go look over there."

Cooper sighed as he watched Jeff go investigate somewhere else. The youngest of the Hardy brothers was now concentrating deeply on finding clues leading to his missing husband's whereabouts. It was actually fucking adorable. Biting his lip, Cooper attempted to concentrate on looking too. They needed to find Tom. The more time they wasted, the more likely that something bad would happen to him (assuming it hadn't already). But it was way too hard for him to concentrate at the moment. He found himself continuing to look at Jeff. _What am I doing? Why can't I make up my mind? First I want Jeff, then Tom and now I want Jeff again...and maybe another round with Tom...damn it! These fucking Hardys are driving me insane!_

Without realizing what he was doing, Cooper walked over to Jeff and shoved him up against the wall. Jeff's squeak was quickly silenced by a kiss. Cooper shoved his tongue into Jeff's mouth, exploring it greedily. Jeff gave in quickly, pulling Cooper closer to him. Cooper thought about just fucking Jeff right up there against the wall, but then he saw a table just a foot away from him. Without hesitation, he began pulling Jeff over to the table, unbuckling their jeans as he did so.

"Cooper," Jeff panted as he was lifted up on to the table. "We shouldn't--"

"Oh hell yes we should," Cooper interrupted. He got up on the table with Jeff and kissed him again, making the older man melt underneath him. Knowing he had Jeff right where he wanted him, he quickly yanked their jeans down and positioned himself between Jeff's legs. He wanted to take more time with this, but that would have to be saved for another time. Between having to find Tom and Matt probably looking for Jeff, there just wasn't enough time to fool around properly.

"Cooper!" Jeff yelled as the younger man shoved himself inside of him. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. "A little warning would have been nice."

Cooper shook his head. "Damn it, Tom told me your ass was tight, but this is ridiculous." Jeff felt like a damn virgin. "You're fucking choking my dick here dude."

Jeff giggled. "Can't handle it?"

"Oh I can handle it. Have you forgotten who you're talking to here?" Cooper pulled almost all the way out before thrusting back in, making Jeff arch his back up and moan. That sound drove Cooper absolutely wild and he began thrusting in and out of Jeff faster, sucking on the moaning man's neck hard enough to leave a giant bruise. Jeff dug his painted nails into Cooper's back while wrapping his legs around the younger man.

"Cooper..." Jeff moaned. He whimpered as Cooper grabbed his hair and gave it a little tug. "Imma....Imma cum..."

Cooper knew he was going to too. He grabbed Jeff's dick and began stroking it, earning himself a loud whine from Jeff in the process. "Cum," he whispered in Jeff's ear. "Do it now."

Jeff did what he was told, crying out loudly as he did so. The feeling of Jeff's ass tightening around his dick even more was too much for him to take and he came about as hard as he did when Tom fucked him. "Oh fuck," he muttered, burying his face into Jeff's shoulder. "Fucking hell Jeff..."

They both panted for breath for about a minute. Then Jeff looked like he was going to start to say something, but a loud bang interrupted them. "What was that?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know," Cooper said. He got up and fixed his jeans. Jeff's cum had stained his shirt but he would worry about that later. "But if it's Dad...well he can kiss my ass because that is well worth whatever tongue lashing he's gonna give me."

....

James shook his head as he exited the club through the way he had come in. He had come in at the very end of the sex and hadn't bothered to stick around for longer than that. He had tried Jeff's house first and that had been why he had only just got there. _Fuck, Cooper's fucked around with two Hardy's now...if he screws Matt too I'm gonna get even more pissed. These fucking Hardys...UGH!_

Leaning back against the wall, James just stood there and stared up at the sky. He honestly didn't know what to do anymore. He knew that Cooper was an adult who could make his own decisions, but after the whole him/Jeff/Tom/Mark debacle, he was wary about anything involving sex with any Hardy. He just wanted to protect Cooper from that bullshit. Was that so wrong?

_He'll probably say it is....fuck, I don't see this not turning into a fight later. Not unless I keep my mouth shut and just accept it, which I'm really fucking bad at. Fucking kids. The bastards are more complicated than they have any right to be._

....

Meanwhile, Mark, Connor and Snoopy were staring at the bodies of the late Detectives Smothers and Armstrong, still trying to figure out what to do with them.

"Maybe we could take them out the back and let Snoopy bury them?" Connor suggested.

"That dog of yours has buried so much shit in my backyard, I'd be surprised if there was enough room for a squirrel's nut, much less two bodies," Mark answered. "And I'm still looking for my car keys, if you get my drift, boy."

"Snoopy didn't mean it. He's just playin'." Connor defended his puppy who had curled up on the sofa.

"Car keys, the remote control for the DVD, the garage door opener, a box of condoms... that really pissed me off... my antique bottle opener..."

"I get the point," Connor answered

"So, I'm thinking that we toss the cops into their car and drive it out the back Harlow Road. They're putting in a roundabout and to do that, they've torn the Blackwater Bridge up. Once we get there, we put the cops in the front seats and push the car in. Only smart thing your father did was not shoot either of them." Mark scratched his head. "Whaddaya think?"

Connor really didn't care. He had something else on his mind. "Marky?"

"What?"

"If the grass was made of dildos, would you mow it more often?"

"What the fuck?" How the kid could be thinking about that at a time like this was astounding. "Connor, this is not..."

"Dildos dildos dildos dildos..." Connor began to sing his new favorite song again.

"Looks like I'm doing this on my own."

"C'mon, Snoopy, let's go play. Dildos dildos dildos dildos dildos..."

"Annabelle, why the hell couldn't you have just sucked James off?" Mark slapped his forehead hard enough to leave a palm print.

Mark waited until the sun had set before getting started. The really creepy part was rummaging through the dead men's pockets to find the keys to the car.

"Connor, get back in here if you know what's good for you!" he bellowed, sticking his head out the window at the boy and his dog, who were both rolling around in the grass, Connor still singing his dildo song.

"Imma havin' fun with Snoopy!" Connor whined. Snoopy joined in and gave Mark a really pathetic look.

"I need your help... let's go! And knock off the dildo song."

...

Twenty minutes later, the job was completed, and it was not a moment too soon. Connor continued to hum his song the entire trip which made Mark really want to tie Connor up and leave him in the car when it went over.

As soon as the car hit the bottom, it exploded.

"Yay! Boom!" Connor bounced around, watching the explosion consume the car, adding more of his own sound effects to it. At least he'd knocked off singing for the moment. "That was fun. Can we do it again?"

Shaking his head, Mark stifled the urge to say something really mean. Connor wasn't trying to be annoying, or maybe he was, he just really had no fucking clue sometimes. "Talk to your father." He finally sighed, walking over to where he'd parked his motorcycle. _Knowing James, he'd agree to it. Fucker'll do anything for his kids._

Cooper hadn't come back by the time they returned, but James was just pulling in. One look at his lover and Mark knew that things were more fucked up now than before, if that was possible.

"You took care of it?" James asked.

"Yeah. Just need to clean the carpet," Mark replied.

"Fuck the carpet," James growled.

"What now?" Mark demanded to know.

"Connor, go inside," James ordered.

"But..."

"Connor, NOW!" James yelled.

"Fine," Connor pouted "Dildos dildos dildos dildos dildos dildos DILDOS DILDOS DILDOS!" He stormed back into the house and slammed the door.

"Did you find Cooper?" Mark asked.

"Yeah... he followed Twinky Dink to the club. I found the two of them fucking like Goddamn Bunny Rabbits!" James punched the side of the house, shattering a brick and probably several bones in his hand.

"Daddy?" Connor stuck his head out his second floor window.

"What?"

"Dildos dildos dildos..."

"That's it." James ran inside. Mark followed right behind. _Let's see... two dead cops, check. Cooper fucking Jeff, check. Connor being a brat, check. And I was worried that today was going to be boring. Show's what I know._

….

"Stupid little brothers," Matt muttered under his breath. He still hadn't managed to find Jeff. "Has to run off and not answer his phone. Now I have two missing brothers to find. Damn it all to hell." He had driven by the club and had thought about going in, but there had been too many people and cars going by it to risk it. _Jeff couldn't have gone in there anyway,_ he told himself. _He's useless at breaking and entering. Besides, even though he's a little ditzy, he couldn't have been stupid enough to risk going in now._

Matt jumped a little as his phone rang. Thinking it was Jeff, he answered it without even checking the number. "Jeff?"

"YEAH, JEFF IS THE MOTHER FUCKING PROBLEM!"

Matt quickly put the phone away from his ear. James had just about made him go deaf with that yell.

"YOU'RE TWINKY DINK BROTHER LED MY SON TO THAT STUPID CLUB AND FUCKING SEDUCED HIM!"

"James you don't know—" Mark started to say.

"MARK, NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO SPEAK!"

"Don't tell me what to do asshole!"

"DILDOS! DILDOS! DILDOS! DIL—"

"SHUT UP!" James and Mark roared at the same time.

"MEANIES!" Connor screamed before bursting into some very fake sounding tears.

Matt sighed. "So they're at the Wolfepack?"

"That's what I said, wasn't it?" James snapped. "I walked in on the end of the fuck fest and I walked out because I knew damn well I would have done something Cooper would hate me for later."

"Wow, you did that just for him?" Matt said in fake amazement. "What, he's only—"

"Can it Hardy," James growled. "I'm definitely not happy about this, so I suggest you knock some sense into your brother and get him away from my boy before I start doing the fucking knocking."

Matt blinked as James hung up. He didn't know whether it was just Cooper and Jeff fucking that set the psycho off or if it was a combination of that and some other stuff. And honestly, he didn't care. What he did care about was getting to that club and making sure Jeff didn't get hurt because of yet another mess involving the Lawsons.


	11. Discovery

"And, in local news, an investigation had begun into the crash that took the life of two Homicide detectives late last night. Police will not comment pending their own investigation, nor will they reveal whether or not their deaths are related to the two deaths at the Wolfepack Club earlier this week. In sports..."

Mark shut off the radio with a smile. He was finally enjoying some quiet time with James. After Connor insisted on singing his dildo song just once too often, James had locked him in his bedroom with no ice cream for a week.

"So, lover of mine, we've taken care of that little problem... what do we do now?"

"Fuck?" James shrugged. "Not like there's anything else we can..."

James's cell phone rang. "This better not be anyone with the last name Hardy," he growled "Hello?"

"DILDOS DILDOS DILDOS DILDOS!!!!"

"Connor, you little shit... do you want to make it two fuckin' weeks?" James yelled. "'Coz if I hear one more dildo out of you, that's what gonna happen!"

Connor cackled and hung up.

"How has it been twenty-two years without me killing him?" James stared at his phone like he wanted to reach right through it and throttle the person on the other end.

"You love the little freak?" Mark reached for the beer beside him.

"I knew there had to be a pussy reason like that," James muttered, reaching for his own drink. "Work hasn't called you yet?"

"They have, but I've been avoiding calling them back. Why are suddenly so concerned about my employment?"

"I ain't, " James lied. "I'm just sick of seeing your ass-ugly face around all the time."

"Why don't you get a fuckin' job for a change instead of mooching off me?" Mark replied.

James raised his eyebrows. "Bitch, I make more money than you do. You're the one here that's doing the mooching."

"You may make more money, but what do you fucking pay for besides the house payments and the groceries? I pay--"

"If you say you pay the rest of the bills, I will smack you," James threatened. "And stop changing the subject. What's going on with your knee?"

Mark sighed. "Well, as everyone seems to enjoy telling me, I shouldn't even be walking with my knee the way it is. How the fuck do you expect me to get back into the ring?"

_Good fuckin' question_, James thought. _I think we should also ask how big of a help he's going to be if we've got to go chasing after dumbass Tom._ "Maybe you should get that knee looked at?"

"Don't worry about my knee. It's not important." _Why does every conversation we have end up as an argument?_ _At least Tom didn't argue with me all the time... and his mouth, wow!"_

"Of course it isn't." James leaned back in the chair, eyeing the Deadman critically. "If it was your ass, your mouth, or your cock, then I'd drag you to the doctor's myself."

"Glad to know you care," Mark grumbled, standing. "If you wanna stay up for the rest of the night waiting for Cooper to come home, that's fine. I'm going to bed."

"I'll be up soon and maybe I can make you forget about the pain in your knee," James winked.

"Doubt it." Mark groaned. He was hurting a lot more than he was letting on, and biking back from disposing of Detectives Smothers and Armstrong was causing a lot more pain than even he, the Prince of Pain (as James once affectionately dubbed him after a particularly brutal session of rough sex), was capable of covering up.

"Thousand bucks says I can make you cum in under five minutes," James laughed, swigging down the rest of his beer.

"Two thousand says I don't," Mark chuckled. "But you're on."

James watched his lover take the stairs slowly. _That's my kind of challenge._ During his late teens, when James' reputation as a psychopath was still in it's infancy, he'd also gotten a rep for his talents with his mouth. During pledge week, he'd sucked off his entire college fraternity, thirty-nine mostly straight guys, in under two hours. He'd killed thirty-seven of them immediately afterward, but the inferno that consumed the frat house obliterated all the evidence against him (as well as most of the bodies).

_This will be the second-easiest two thousand bucks I ever made._

...

" What exactly makes you think that we're gonna find anything that the police, Mark, and whoever the fuck else has missed?" Cooper demanded, following Jeff deep inside the darkness of the club.

"We have to," Jeff replied "We just do."

"Might help if we knew what we were looking for." The only part of this place Cooper vaguely remembered was the time he spent getting drunk back where they stored all the booze."

"I told you what we were looking for. Clues." Jeff put his hands on his hips. "If Imma knew what I was lookin' for, then Imma not need you."

"Fine with me. You can search all you want. I'll be on Twitter if you need me." Cooper reached for his phone.

"Fine... I'll be... what did you say?" Jeff's eyes suddenly lit up.

"I said you can search all you want," Cooper answered.

"No, the other part."

"Jeff, we don't have time for your games." Cooper was really starting to get annoyed, and his annoyance was starting to show.

"Tommers sent me messages on Twitter," Jeff said.

"I know," Cooper answered. He had seen them for himself not that long after he and Jeff had fucked.

"Well... can you find out where they came from?" Jeff asked.

"Jeff, do you want me to hack Twitter?" Cooper had done his share of that, and he believed that there wasn't a firewall in cyberspace that he couldn't bypass, but he'd never considered doing what Jeff was asking him.

"If we knew where the messages were coming from, then we'll know where he is!" Jeff waved his arms frantically.

_It's not that simple. _Copper kept that statement to himself. "I can try, but I can't do it from my cell phone. If I had my laptop..."

"I saw a computer in a room back there. Please, Cooper, for me?"

Cooper almost asked what Jeff would be willing to give up in exchange for this service, but he already knew the answer. "I'll see what I can do. But I don't want you bothering me every five minutes, okay?"

"Deal," Jeff stated. "Computer's this way."

"I just hope there's still electricity in this joint," Cooper said.

Jeff flicked a light switch as he passed. The entire club lit up. "That answer your question?" He quickly flicked the lights off again.

"I'll let you know if I find anything. What's his Twitter account?"

"Tom Hardy rocks," Jeff replied, spelling it for Cooper.

"Just remember what I said. Stay out of my hair."

"Imma go look for clues," Jeff promised. "Lemme know if you find anything, please?"

Cooper was already engrossed in cracking Tim's computer to reply. He needed to backdoor the security on the actual machine before he could even think about getting into the Twitter account. Tim had encrypted everything on his hard drive, including his password files. Obviously he had more going on that just running a franchise of Wolfepack bars.

Jeff wandered around. He was completely clueless as to what he was looking for, but something was drawing him to the rear of the club. He passed the VIP lounge, the bathrooms, and walked into the kitchen. There was something here, something everyone else had missed, but what, and more importantly where, was it? He looked down and saw a trail of dried blood leading to the meat locker.

"C-C-C..." He tried calling out for Cooper, but his voice got stuck in his throat. Like steel to a magnet, Jeff felt pulled along.

"If there's anyone in here, watch out! Imma coming..." Jeff placed his hand on the freezer door, slightly ajar. He gulped nervously and pulled the door open.

Cooper had just cracked Tim's firewall and was in the process of logging in to Tom's Twitter account when he heard Jeff scream.

"Jeff?" He jumped over the desk and ran toward the sound of the cries. He found him, curled up in a ball next to the open freezer, sobbing hysterically. "What the fuck's wrong?"

"In th-th-the fr-freezer." Jeff stammered, his red eyes only briefly looking up at Cooper.

Cooper looked up. "Don't move." Reaching for his pocketknife (although it probably would not help a whole lot), Cooper stepped into the walk-in freezer. He looked to the left and then to his right, wondering what Jeff had seen that had set him off.

"Oh shit balls." Cooper looked at the back of the freezer. _This is definitely not fuckin' good. Not fuckin' good at all._

......

Mark groaned as he swallowed a pain pill and laid down on the bed. His knee was throbbing so bad that he wanted to cut the damn thing off and be done with it. _Why did Patrick have to go for the knee?_ he asked himself. _Fuck, I had enough knee problems as it was before he shot it._ He sighed and tried to get himself comfortable. It wasn't really easy when he not only had to keep his bad knee propped up under a pillow, but he also had to get in a position that was good for his hips. _Fuck, I'm getting old,_ he thought unhappily. _That fucking sucks._

The bedroom door opened and James came in. "You better get your checkbook ready," he warned Mark. "Because I'm ready to become two thousand dollars richer."

Mark snorted. "Yeah, maybe in your dreams. But this is the real world boy. And in the real world, you're not going to make me cum in five minutes."

James shook his head as he got on to the bed with Mark. "You know, you really shouldn't give me challenges like that Marky." He yanked off Mark's pants and boxers. If he noticed the grimace of pain on Mark's face when his hand got near the injured knee, he didn't show it. "Remember when you said I couldn't run through the entire mall naked without getting captured by security and I did that?"

"That doesn't even compare to this," Mark said defensively. He remembered that challenge very well. Because he had lost, he had been forced to be James's bitch for two whole weeks. Not that it wasn't an enjoyable two weeks from a pleasure standpoint, but still, it had hurt his pride to be a bitch for that long.

James smirked. "Whatever Marky Mark."

"Don't call me that," Mark snapped. "You fu--" Whatever he was going to say was cut off by James deep throating him without any warning whatsover. He tried to stop the moan that wanted to come out of his mouth as he grabbed James's hair and twisted it really hard with his fingers. A blowjob had been the last thing he had been expecting. He had been expecting James to fuck him, but this changed everything. This was a sneak attack at its finest and he had effectively lost control of his body. "This isn't fair," he complained, not caring that it almost sounded like a whine. "You're cheating!"

James just chuckled in response to that accusation. The vibrations from that made Mark involuntarily thrust up into James's mouth. James smacked his thigh for that before playing with his balls and inserting three fingers into him without any warning. Mark groaned, already knowing he was about to be out of some money. He wasn't going to last five minutes. Hell, he was going to be lucky if he lasted another _two_ minutes.

James thrusted his fingers, eagerly searching for Mark's prostate. It didn't take him long for him to find it. Mark's body jolted as James probed it, and he cursed as his psychotic lover chuckled again. "You're an ass Lawson," he said, his voice strangled because it was somewhat caught in his throat. "You fucking---oh fuck!" He quickly put one of his hands over his mouth and bit down so hard on it that it drew blood. He came so hard that he saw stars and his world began to spin. He closed his eyes and panted for breath. He couldn't even form a coherent thought at the moment.

"I won," James said triumphantly. He moved himself up so that he was straddling Mark. "And I did it in two and a half minutes. So suck on that bitch."

Mark shook his head. "Wow, that was just so mature Lawson."

"I know," James replied. He laid down on top of Mark. "Now about your knee..."

Mark groaned. "Not this again. I'm--ow! Did you just fucking pinch me?"

"Yup," James confirmed.

"You're dead meat Lawson."

"No I'm not. Oh, and you will go to the doctor whether you like it or not. I've decided that I will drag you there kicking and screaming."

"You fucking will not."

James raised his eyebrows. "Are you challenging me again Marky?"

Mark smacked himself on the forehead. _Oh God, here we go again._

...

Cooper tuned out the noise coming from Jeff and focused on what he was seeing. _There is no way that has been here since Tom disappeared. It's not fuckin' possible._

There were two pictures suspended from the hooks. The first was of Tom, his hands splayed out in front of him. The second was of a large knife, and hanging next to the snapshots was a baggie with what looked like a finger inside it. Cooper sliced open the bag and smiled when the contents fell into his open palm.

"Jeff."

Jeff sniffled. "Wha?"

"It's not real," Cooper answered "Someone's fucking with you!"

"B-b-but I saw..."

"A very good practical joke." Cooper walked out of the freezer and showed it to Jeff. "It's just rubber."

Jeff looked at it, a look of fear in his eyes.

"Go on, touch it. It's okay," Cooper said

Like he was touching a dangerous animal, Jeff tentatively brushed his fingers along what Cooper held.

"But that's Tommers' ring," Jeff pointed.

"Whoever did this figured you'd see the ring first, which you did. I don't know what they hoped would happen next, but this has gone far enough. Someone is playing a sick joke and when I find out who that fucker is, what happened to Patrick will seem like nothing," Cooper growled, palming the ring then throwing the fake finger across the room.

"Thank-you, Cooper." Jeff kissed him on the cheek.

"Can you stay outta trouble while I finish with Tim's computer? I've almost hacked it." Cooper didn't want to leave Jeff alone, but time was short.

"Uh-huh... I'll be a good boy," Jeff promised "Scouts' honor."

"The sooner wee get our asses outta here, the better." Cooper tossed Tom's ring to Jeff, then returned to Tim's office. Jeff continued to snoop around, finding another baggie with another finger in it in another one of the storage freezers.

"Stupid peoples, thinking I'll fall for that shit twice." There was nothing else interesting so Jeff danced back into the office, his new treasure in his hand.

"Find anything else?" Cooper asked, scrunched over Tim's computer, typing rapidly.

"Nah. Just another joke." Jeff dropped the bag onto Cooper's lap.

Cooper's eyes widened. "Where did you find this?" he demanded

"In another of the freezers. They must really think I'm stupid. Imma not fall for that trick again." Jeff folded his arms.

While Jeff was talking, Cooper had opened the Zip-loc and an odor hit his nostrils. One he was all-too familiar with.

"Oh fuck," he muttered.

"Whatty?"

"The joke's on you," Cooper grimaced. "This one's real."


	12. Lean on Me

"What makes you think he went back to the club?" Randy demanded.

"I told Jeff not to do anything stupid. This epitomizes stupid," Matt replied

"And here I was thinking that the Hardy-Lawson saga had ended," Randy sighed. "Do you want me to pick you up or are you gonna come get me?"

"Neither, actually. I was gonna do this on my own," Matt answered. "Hell, I was practically at the club once already but there was some sort of big car crash right by the place and I didn't want to risk being seen sneaking into the place so now I'll have to try to get to Jeff in a little bit." He had also tried calling Jeff to warn him what was going on outside, but in typical fashion, Jeff hadn't answered his phone.

"Then why the hell did you call me?" Randy sounded angry.

"Did I interrupt something?" Matt asked.

"You might have," Randy barked back, then realized who he was yelling at. This was Matt, the man to whom he'd pledged eternal love to, not some random coworker. "I'll be there in ten minutes, okay?" He softened his voice.

"Thanks, man," Matt answered, hanging up. He stared into four plastic eyes. "Well, you two have been unusually quiet. You think I should just let Jeff do his own thing?"

Bunny and Lizard looked at each other. Neither one answered.

"C'mon, this is Uncle Matty here. You can tell me what you think... please?" Matt picked up the pair and cradled them. He'd been so busy caring about Jeff during this situation that he hadn't stopped to consider his own emotions, other than being royally pissed at the two now dead cops.

Just snuggling with them was enough to make his own chest tighten. Matt never realized how much he was missing Tom until that moment, but he also knew that he had to stay strong for not only himself, but Jeff as well.

"Bunny... Lizard... please." Matt whispered hoarsely, feeling his eyes start to water."Help me. I can't do this by myself."

"You shouldn't have to." At first, Matt thought he was going nuts. After all stuffed animals did not talk back, not unless the owner was three months old or completely wasted. Matt did not qualify in either case.

Matt raised his head. Randy was standing over the bed, a look of compassion on his face. That was all Matt needed to see before he started to cry in earnest. Without a word, Randy sat down on the bed beside Matt and put his arm across the middle Hardy brother's shoulder.

"Matthew, I know it hurts real bad right now," Randy whispered into Matt's ear, causing him to press his tear-streaked face into his lover's chest. Randy stroked his hair softly, whispering kind words in his ear. "But we're gonna find your brother, both of them, and put this all behind us."

"Why? Why does this shit always fall in my lap?" Matt sobbed helplessly. "Why didn't I just make Tommy get back in the car? Why? Why?"

"We all tried, remember?" Randy replied. "I'm sure that if any of us had known what was gonna go down, we'd have tied your brother to the front bumper. But we didn't, so right now we have to focus on getting him back." He gently scratched Matt's shoulder blades, something he had seen Jeff do when Matt needed comfort and hoped it would have the same result.

Matt raised his head, the tracks of his tears clearly visible on his face. Randy cradled it and kissed him softly on the forehead, right between his eyes.

"Matt, I think you should relax. If Jeff has gone to the club, like you seem to think, then following him won't accomplish anything, other than getting everyone into more trouble... I saw the news." Randy shifted his body weight, pushing Matt onto the bed. "Let those Lawsons deal with it, neither of us need to get involved right now."

"What are you saying?" Matt asked .

"I'm saying..." Randy began kissing Matt's neck, nibbling at his jugular. "that..." His fingers worked their way down his shirt, unbuttoning it as he went along. "we need to..." He tweaked Matt's right nipple "step back and..." He sucked on the small nub of flesh.

"Fuck..." Matt groaned.

"Exactly what I was going to say." Randy took his lips off Matt's chest and kissed his way down toward his navel, outlining each of his ab muscles with his tongue. After many months, they were finally starting to reappear.

"Randy, please, not now." Matt begged "I have to..."

"You don't have to do anything." Randy looked up. "Matt, I can't stand seeing you like this. You're not the only person who's hurting right now. This is tearing me up too."

The words shocked Matt. Orton was known for keeping himself to himself, as Matt could easily vouch for. Hearing his boyfriend be so open about his emotions brought home just how alone he wasn't.

"So let's just relax and see how this plays out." Randy rose from his stomach and kissed his lips softly, then tugged his belt loose.

Matt closed his eyes and let Randy take over, licking his lips in anticipation.

Shimmying Matt's jeans down to his ankles, Randy also moistened his lips. "Just tell me if I'm going too fast for you." He reached into Matt's boxers and started stroking his cock, making it swell with only a few gentle touches.

Matt's mind went back to their first encounter, so many months ago, yet it seemed like only yesterday. Ironically, Tom had originally brought them together, indirectly, but here it was happening again. Tom bringing them yet closer. Even when he was gone, a part of Tom always seemed to be there, helping things along.

His thoughts kicked out of the past when Randy's brought his lips to Matt's dick, covering it lightly with moisture from his mouth. A viper in the ring, he became downright passive when it came to his lovemaking.

"I think it's about time we went all the way, don't you think?" Randy purred, then swallowed Matt's entire length.

"I dunno. We've always wanted to take it slow." Matt gulped, trying to remain calm. The thought of finally doing it, added to the feelings of Randy's mouth, almost made him cum right there.

"I think we've taken it slow for long enough." Randy took Matt's cock out of his mouth. It was fully hard, completely covered with saliva, and ready for action. He quickly shucked off his own pants and underwear and straddled Matt, his pucker directly above Matt. "Just don't panic if I scream."

"I don't want to hurt you, babe." Matt sighed

"You won't.... ahhh!" Randy dropped onto Matt's erection. It slid inside him like a sword into a sheath.

"You okay?" Matt's eyes shot open when Randy gasped.

"I'm fine." Randy panted "But you gotta move. I feel like your cock is tickling my tonsils from the wrong end."

Matt began to pump his hips, drawing out his strokes as long as he could so that neither would he hurt Randy, nor would he shoot right away. Randy was tight, really, really tight. He was almost as tight as Jeff.

"Faster, Matty, this is incredible." With only a few strokes, Randy was not only hard, but drooling precum from the tip on his cock down onto Matt's lower belly. "God, yes, more. I want you to fuck me like an animal."

Matt giggled at the NIN reference. "You wanna feel me from the inside?" He panted

"I want you to shoot so far inside me that I can taste it." Randy bucked his hips to Matt's thrusts, getting double the stimulation.

Matt adjusted himself a couple of inches, hitting Randy's prostate dead center.

"Do that again and I'll cum all over you." Randy gasped, his cock quivering.

"Okay... you asked for it." Matt thrust one more time. Randy screamed, thick streams of fluid spraying from his cock onto Matt's stomach, both his pecs, and a few drops landed on his chin.

That feeling was enough to send Matt's cock into overdrive and he blew his load soon after. His cock fell out of Randy's ass and Orton snuggled beside him.

"I hope it doesn't take another emotional breakdown for that to happen again." Randy wiped his cum from Matt's chin, then licked his own finger off.

"I love you." Matt cuddled into Randy's embrace.

"And I love you version one." Randy said, not caring that Matt was covered with his juice, nor about the wetness trickling down his thighs. "We should go clean up in case your brother comes home. We don't him to find us here, in his bed, looking like this."

"Good point." Matt picked Randy off the bed and carried him into the shower, hoping that Bunny and Lizard wouldn't be too traumatized by what they'd seen. The heat from the shower soon awakened both men's libidos and moans soon permeated the rest of the house, drowning out everything else, including the telephone.

"Matt, it's Cooper." The answering machine kicked in eventually. "I hope this means you're just taking a shit or somethin', 'cause you better get your ass down to the club. We've got a bit of a problem..."

....

James was woken up by the sound of the phone ringing. He groaned, not wanting to move an inch. He had his head rested on Mark's chest and one leg and one arm draped over his lover and he was nice and comfy at the moment. "Mark answer it," he mumbled sleepily. "Make the ringing go away."

"You do it," Mark replied. "You're closer to it."

"Ugh," James grunted unhappily. "You're no fair."

Mark sighed. "James come on, just answer it. What if it's Cooper?"

James reluctantly rolled over so he could grab his phone. "Want me to put it on speaker?"

"Yeah sure," Mark said. "That way I don't got to ask you what's going on afterwards."

James quickly flipped the phone over and put it on speaker. "If you're not Cooper, you better pray I don't find you," he informed the person on the other line. "Because I will hunt you down and gut you."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Do you have to answer the phone like that? One of these days, you're going to seriously traumatize someone with that greeting."

"Don't worry about it Callaway," Cooper said. "I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

James sighed in relief. "Oh good, it's you. When are you coming home?"

"Actually I want you to come to the club."

James blinked as he stared at the phone incredulously. "Why in the bluest of blue hells would I do something like that?"

"Dad come on, Jeff and I need you down here."

"Why? Don't you want some more fucking time with him?"

Cooper was silent for a couple of minutes. "So you did see that," he said with a sigh. "I thought you were the one peeking in on us but I wasn't sure."

"Don't say it like that!" James ordered. "That makes me sound creepy." He shook his head. "What were you thinking Cooper? Hasn't history taught you to stay the fuck away from anyone named Hardy?"

"Dad can we please--"

"I mean hell, Tom used you for sex already! What makes you think Jeff won't do the same damn thing?"

"Dad--"

"Oh, and don't think for a second that--"

"James!" Mark growled. "Shut the fuck up and let the boy speak!"

James looked and Mark and pouted. "Meanie!"

Mark blinked. "Don't you ever do that again. You sounded way too much like Connor there." He looked at the phone. "Now try talking Cooper."

"Someone cut off Tom's finger and left it in the freezer here," Cooper said immediately. "At least I think it was Tom's finger. And there was a fake rubber finger that had Tom's ring on it, which I think was meant as a joke. You know, scare the crap out of Jeff but then lull him into a fake sense of security when he found the real one because he would think the real one was a fake too."

"Cooper?" Jeff said suddenly. "Who are you talking to?"

"Dad and Mark," Cooper replied.

"Oh." Jeff sounded like he was trying to keep himself from crying. "Cooper, who would cut off Tommy's fingers? Why would they want to hurt him like that?"

"They probably did it because they met him," James blurted out before he could stop himself.

Mark smacked James as Jeff began to whimper. "Can't you ever sense when it's a good fucking time to shut your mouth?" he asked.

"No," James replied honestly. "You of all people should know that Marky."

"Can you please just get down here?" Cooper asked impatiently. "If Tom's losing body parts, we're probably running out of time."

"We'll be there soon," Mark assured him. He hung up the phone and got out of bed. "Come on Lawson. Let's move it."

James groaned. "But I don't wanna. It's only Tom..."

Mark glared at him. "Tom helped out when we were kidnapped."

"Uh huh and don't you think that's a little suspicious?" James asked. "I mean, if he hadn't fucked Cooper, I would have sworn it was to get into your pants again."

"Damn it Lawson! Would you just stop? If I wanted Tom, I would be with Tom. But I want you of all people, although I don't fucking understand why sometimes. Now if you don't get your ass out of bed this instant, I will beat you with a stick, shove it up your ass and then carry your ass to that fucking club!"

James stared at Mark for awhile before grinning. "You're cute when you're annoyed." He got out of bed and got dressed. "But I have to say, I--"

A noise from downstairs made them both stop in their tracks. "What the hell was that?" Mark asked. "Did Connor get out of his room?"

James opened the bedroom door and peered out into the hallway. "Connor?"

"I told the witch doctor I wanted a dildo," Connor sang from his room.

James rolled his eyes and quickly grabbed his knife. "It's not Connor," he told Mark. "Connor's still in his room singing about dildos only now there's a witch doctors involved."

"Your boy has issues," Mark said with a shake of his head.

James didn't respond to that. He just went downstairs and had his knife out, ready to stab whoever was in his house. _I really hate intruders. They're just so fucking rude..._

The intruder made a noise that sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. James went in there and was immediately disappointed because he couldn't stab the guy. It was just Glenn.

"Hey there James," Glenn said, not bothered at all that James had snuck up on him with a knife. It wasn't like this was the first time that had happened. "Did you guys find Tom yet?"

James sighed and put his knife in his pocket. "Mark! Your dumbass brother is here!"

Mark came in the room and shook his head. "What are you doing here Glenn?"

Glenn shrugged. "I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I would drop by." He grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard and just helped himself. "So what's been going on with Tom? Did he ever show up?"

"His finger did," Mark replied. "We're pretty sure someone cut it off. James and I are meeting Jeff and Cooper down at the club and we're going to tear the place apart to see if we can find anything else."

"You want me to come and help you?"

James shook his head. "Could you watch Connor? I really don't feel like bringing him right now. He's being a little shithead."

Glenn rolled his eyes. "Oh great. Dump him on me. I see how it is Lawson."

There was a loud crash from upstairs. It sounded like a door had been broken down. "DILDOS! DILDOS! DILDOS! WITCH DOCTOR TOOK A DILDO AND RAPED A GOAT! MUWAHAHAHAHA!"

"Best to luck to you buddy," James said to Glenn. He grabbed Mark and quickly dragged him out of the house.

Mark shook his head. "That wasn't nice James."

"Yeah but better him than us, right?"

"Oh yeah. Most definitely."


	13. Confrontation

Randy towelled off briskly, humming to himself. The shower had done both he and Matt a world of good, and not just because they'd each blown another load while inside. Matt definitely seemed a lot less distraught that he had been before; his emotional turmoil seemed to melt under the hot water like a block of ice on a radiator.

Whistling softly, he stepped out of the bathroom and stopped. Matt was staring at the answering machine with a concerned look.

"Problem, my sexy Sensei of Mattitude?" Randy asked.

"We have to go to the Wolfepack. Now," he added, urgently.

"I thought we already discussed this." Randy sat down beside Matt. "We were gonna let the Lawsons handle things."

"I know, but listen to this." Matt replayed Cooper's message.

"We got a bit of a problem... so what?" Randy repeated "Is there ever a time where the word problem and Lawson aren't used together? For fuck's sake, I still have nightmares about almost getting killed by those gooons."

"You wanna stay here, fine. I'm goin' anyway," Matt stated. "If Cooper says I need to get my ass down to the club, then my ass is getting to that club, one way or another." He was already dressed and downstairs before Randy could think of how he was going to talk Matt out of going.

"Matt!" Randy ran to the top of the stairs.

Matt stopped, the front door already open. "Don't try to talk me out of this."

"Would you at least wait until I put some pants on?" Randy answered. "I am not facing anyone looking like Val Venis doing a promo."

"You're comin' with?" Matt asked.

"Damn skippy. Now that I got my claws into ya, I'm not letting you outta my sight. God knows what might happen." Randy ran back into the bedroom and found his clothes. Gathering them in his arms, he came back out into the hall. "Let's go."

"Aren't you gonna put them on?" Matt asked.

"I'll go that while you're driving. Now grab your keys and let's go."

"Right." Matt patted his pockets, then rolled his eyes.

"Problem?"

"Left my keys at home," Matt groaned.

"Does this town have a decent bus service?" Randy asked.

"How the hell should I know... I don't live here," Matt answered.

"Then how the hell are we gonna get there?" Randy took the opportunity to at least put on his underwear and jeans while Matt scratched his forehead.

"I dun... hang on." Matt ran into the kitchen. "I hope Tom will forgive me for this." He grabbed the keys to his brother's Viper from the top of the microwave. "Let's go."

Randy looked up, hopping on one foot as he tried to put on his socks.

"But you said..."

"I found the key's to Tom's car." Matt dangled them in front of Randy.

"You better hope that this is worth it," Randy answered "If you put one scratch on that thing, Tom will make 'See No Evil' seem like 'The Care Bears'."

"Don't I know it," Matt muttered. "I'm more worried about hidin' the damn thing. You see many other Vipers around?"

"Just me," Randy answered, chuckling. "Let's worry about that once we get there."

"Hopefully they cleared the streets by now."

"They should have. Cooper doesn't strike me as the type to break into a crime scene when there are people standing around." Randy answered

_He also didn't seem like the type to fuck my brothers, but we all know how that turned out._ Despite James' ranting, Matt had a hard time believing that Jeff would've been the one to seduce Cooper. Matt decided that, given Cooper's track record around Tom and yes, he'd also had a hunch that something had happened before Cooper's own revelations, that he'd more likely be the seducer not the seducee.

"If not, we park around the block and run through the back." Matt shrugged, his heart pounding when he started the car. Today was a day of first for Matt: the first time he drove Tom's car, his first fuck with Randy, and the first time he'd gone completely to pieces in the company of two stuffed toys.

Matt drove along in silence until Randy tapped him on the leg.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"Naw. Just thinkin' 'bout what Imma gonna say to Jeff when we get there." Since Cooper didn't exactly say what the problem was, the more pressing concern to him was the Jeff and Cooper fucking thing.

"Didn't those two animals tell you?" Randy smirked.

"Hey! Bunny and Lizard helped!" Matt yelled. "And it's not like your innocent either... Matty, I can't sleep... where's Cuddles? You keep raggin' on me and I'll tell the entire locker room that you sleep with a teddy bear."

"I'm surprised you haven't all ready," Randy replied.

"I've wanted to, believe me. But I'll let either Cody or Ted do that the next time you three have one of your infamous meltdowns in the ring."

"But they don't... you wouldn't?" Other than a few people named Hardy, no one knew about Cuddles, not even his ex-wife.

"Promise to stop hatin' on Bunny and Lizard?" Matt grinned wickedly.

"I promise." Randy slunk down. "It's no worse than your My Little Pony dolls," he added

"Let's just end this now, okay?"

"Okay," Randy agreed. "Club's at the end of the block anyway."

To be safe, Matt drove by the club. The accident had been cleared away and the street was deserted.

"We'll go around the block and park there."

"Cool... do we have any idea what we're gonna do when we get there?" Randy demanded

"I'll let you know once I find out exactly what Cooper meant when he said we've got a bit of a problem."

"Jeff probably locked himself in a freezer or something," Randy replied. "You know how careless that brother of yours can be sometimes."

Matt did not answer. still concerned about whatever may or may not have happened between Jeff and Cooper. To say that he was willing to James' words at face value was a lie. For all Matt knew, this was another Lawson trick to bust his family apart. He still wasn't convinced of their innocence involving Tom's disappearance, despite recent events.

"This'll do." Matt pulled to the side of the road. "Lock up, please. I don't wanna go to all this trouble to rescue him only to be killed because someone ripped off his car."

"And I thought I was the compulsive one," Randy said as he obeyed

"Just make it look like we belong in the area," Matt added. "No sense adding to any suspicions."

"Just pray that no one stops us for directions," Randy stretched. "That'll really fuck us up the ass and once a day is enough for me."

"You sure?" Matt giggled.

"Positive. I'm still debating about who should be the bottom in this relationship."

"Whatever, man. I'm flexible." Visions of the one time he went double-anal with Tom and Jeff came back to him and he moaned softly.

"You may want to turn off whatever X-rated movie is playing in your mind right now and focus," Randy snickered with amusement.

Matt blushed. "Sorry."

Randy picked up the pace. By the time they travelled the block and a half to the club's front door, Randy was jogging briskly and Matt was breathing heavily with just trying to keep up with him.

"What happened to making it look like we belong? Does this look like an area where people jog for exercise?" Matt gasped.

"You need to get back into the gym." Randy wasn't even gasping for air. "Your cardio sucks."

"If this is gonna be all about me, then maybe I shoulda left you at home." Matt wiped his forehead.

"Yes, dear. Looks like we're not the only ones invited to this party." Just ahead, a pair of motorcycles were pulling around the side.

"At least we tried to be inconspicuous," Matt said "Those two..."

"Those two don't even know the meaning of the word inconspicuous, much less are able to pull it off. Two guys that size stand out like The Rock at a KKK meeting."

"Do they even have the Klan in Miami?" Matt asked.

"Who knows..."

"...and who cares?" Mark's booming voice interrupted them. "Are you coming with us or gonna stay here debating the merits of black men in white sheets?"

The tone of Mark's voice told them now was not the time to argue. "We're coming in," they replied together.

James was not outside waiting for them but they could hear his voice inside. "Off all the stupid things you've done in your life, this takes the fuckin' cake... for once, would you use your fuckin' brain?!"

"That's real mature, Dad. When was the last time you thought about shit before you did it? Huh?" Cooper yelled back "You fucked Jeff too, remember? You're just as much to blame for this as I am. Hell, I'm surprised you ain't in jail for slashing Tom's throat!"

"Leave that out of this. At least I didn't cut his fuckin' finger off and leave it at a crime scene!" James retorted.

Matt looked at Randy. "What?" Matt yelled, running inside.

"Oh, shit. I knew there was something we forgot to tell him." Mark followed Matt and Randy into the club, hoping that he'd be in time to prevent Armageddon.

When Matt got in there, they found James and Cooper getting ready to tear each other apart. Jeff was standing near them, looking scared to death. "What the fuck has been going on here?" Matt asked, the whole finger issue making him forget about the sex Cooper and Jeff might have had. "Who the hell cut off Tom's finger?"

"We don't fucking know," Cooper replied. "If we did, do you think he would still be breathing right now?"

James rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Cooper demanded, getting right back in James's face. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"I said why are you even bothering with this," James repeated. "What the fuck are you going to get out of rescuing him?"

"Him you dipshit!"

James snorted. "Oh yes, because that is such a wonderful fucking prize."

Matt shook his head. "Can you two either shut up or take this fight somewhere else? I would like to fucking concentrate on finding Tom right now."

"Shut up!" James and Cooper yelled at the same time.

"Don't fucking yell at him!" Randy snapped. "You--" His confidence wavered at the nasty looks Cooper and James gave him. Matt immediately stepped in front of his lover protectively, but that only made Cooper roll his eyes and James smirk.

"I'm in agreement with Matt here," Mark said suddenly. "Tom is still missing, and if body parts are coming off, he's in deep trouble right now. This fighting is complete and utter bullshit and it's ending now. Do you understand me?"

Cooper folded his arms over his chest. "I'll behave if he behaves."

Mark looked at James. "Well?"

James scowled. "Since when do I behave?"

"Since right the fuck now," Mark growled. "Cooper wants to find Tom. That should be enough of a reason for you to stop acting like a baby and get with the program."

Jeff took a step forward. "James--"

"Don't," Cooper immediately said. "Not now Jeff."

Matt raised his eyebrow. He saw Cooper and Jeff make unneccessary contact during that exchange. It gave him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. _Maybe James wasn't lying to me on the phone. Something might have really happened between Jeff and Cooper._

James at Cooper and Jeff, then looked at Mark for a moment before looking at Cooper and Jeff again. "Whatever," he muttered. He stormed off, shoulder checking Jeff on his way. He actually got Jeff so hard that the younger man would have fallen over if Cooper hadn't caught him. Matt immediately saw red and tried to go after James, only to be restrained by Mark. "Don't," Mark said quietly. "You looking to get yourself killed boy?"

Before Matt could answer, Cooper handed Jeff over to him and took off after James. "Get back here!" Cooper ordered. "Dad, I fucking mean it!"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Oh Lord, here we go..."

....

It didn't take long for Cooper to catch up with James. It didn't even appear that James was trying to storm off that fast. "What the fuck is your problem?" Cooper asked as he grabbed James's arm and spun him around. "Seriously Dad, can't you fucking just knock this shit off? You're being an immature baby."

James raised his eyebrows. "I'm just searching for more clues," he said, trying to act innocent. "That's what we're supposed to be doing right now, isn't it?"

Cooper shook his head. "And you're supposed to hit Jeff on the way to do that?"

"I did not hit him. I just bumped into him."

"On purpose!"

James shrugged. "It's not the worst I've ever done to him." He tried to walk away again, but he was once again stopped by Cooper. "Damn it, would you knock that shit off? It's getting on my nerves."

"I really don't give a rat's ass right now," Cooper replied. He shook his head. "I know you don't like Tom--"

"Don't like? I hate him and I know the feeling is just as mutual."

"You just don't like him because he got with Mark," Cooper snapped. "That's where your real hatred for him began. Hell, if he hadn't done that, then you wouldn't have cared that we fucked."

"That's not true," James denied.

"Isn't it? When Tom said that he and I weren't going to fuck again, you were fucking happy about that. You didn't give a shit about what I wanted."

"Cooper that's not--"

"You say it's not true, but how am I supposed to believe that when you act the way you do? Fuck, you act like it's the end of the world when I'm with someone that's not Connor or some random slut from a bar that we'll never see again!"

James didn't reply to that. He just leaned back against the wall and stared at Cooper. Cooper let him stare until the silence drove him crazy. "Well? Aren't you going to say something?"

James just shrugged.

"Ugh! You are so infuriating sometimes!" Cooper turned away from James and punched the wall. "Why can't you just accept that I'm a fucking grown up and I'm going to do what I want?"

"I've accepted that a long fucking time ago," James finally said. "But I don't like this shit you got going with those Hardys and I'm not going to insult your intelligence by faking it. Now are you done bitching at me yet?"

Cooper sighed. He wanted to keep going at James but he didn't see what the point was anymore. James was the most stubborn person he had ever met in his life and it took a miracle to change his mind when he had decided not to like something. "You know what? I am done. Don't like it as much as you want. I don't care." He stormed off, swearing to himself that he wasn't going to waste anymore time if he could help it. It was time to find Tom and bring him the hell home.


	14. Getting Down to Business

Matt listened to James and Cooper argue, yet the words weren't registering. _Someone cut off Tom's finger. Jeff and Cooper fucked. Gotta find Tom before something else goes wrong... _He was suddenly overcome, feeling light-headed and having to lean against the wall for support.

"Matty, are you alright?" Jeff immediately rushed over to stop Matt from passing out.

"I'll be fine, Jeff," Matt assured him. "Just need to splash some water on my face."

"Imma take you to the bathroom," Jeff stated. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah." Matt staggered in toward the bathrooms, hoping that the water was still on. Jeff tagged close behind just in case, leaving Randy and Mark alone.

"Is there something I'm not being told? I feel like I'm outta the loop," Randy said

"Probably," Mark replied. "All I know for sure is that Tom never came back with you, and he hasn't been seen since. His phone, his gun, and now apparently his finger has been found in several different parts of this dive." _And there are two dead cops because of it._

"So what exactly are we hoping to find? This is kinda illegal, isn't it?"

"Nothing kinda 'bout it." Mark reached into his pocket and took out a pair of gloves. "And I have no idea what we're looking for. This is all Cooper's thing."

"Cooper? Why?"

"I see Matt hasn't told you the whole story either," Mark answered "You should probably ask him or Jeff about it. Me telling you will just get us all into a lot of trouble."

...

There was just enough water pressure in the club to allow Matt to splash a handful or two on his face.

"Feel better, Matty?"

"A little. I guess just thinkin' about Tom being in pain and not being able to do anything about it finally got to me." Matt leaned against the sink.

"You think we're ever gonna find Tommy?" Jeff started playing with his hair.

"We are... I'm sure of it," Matt answered.

"Can I, uh, tell you something?" Jeff stuttered.

"Is this about you and Cooper?"

"How did you know?" Jeff took a step back. "Did he tell you?"

"No... James did," Matt responded "Jeff, what the fuck were you thinking? First James, now Cooper... who's next? Connor?"

"He made me," Jeff pleaded. "I didn't wanna..."

"But you did." Matt slammed the counter with his fist. "And after all the drama you pulled when Cooper told you about fucking Tom… Jeff, I dunno what to do about you sometimes."

Jeff stared at his feet, ashamed. Yet again, he let his feelings get in the way of his common sense.

"End of lecture," Matt said. "Once we find Tom, I'm sure he'll have something to say about the matter."

"Maybe he won't be too mad." _Maybe he'll wanna threesome with Cooper and me. That'd be... no wait, that's badness... I love Tommers, not Cooper! _

"C'mon. You know Tom likes to overreact to shit." Matt turned on the tap again, hoping for at least a few more drops of water for his face, but alas there was none.

"Imma know."

"You two okay in there?" Randy stuck his head into the bathroom.

"Yeah, if you two have finished with the Hardycest, we'd like to get our asses in gear." That was James.

"Ass-fucking faggot..." Jeff muttered.

"Jeff," Matt cautioned him.

"Sorry. Psychotic ass-fucking faggot. Why can't he be nice for once?"

"Because it's not in my nature," James barked. "And I take offense to that, Twinky Dink."

"Oh yeah?" Jeff balled his fists.

"Yeah. I'm bi, thank you very much," James sneered. "If I wasn't, how do you think I made a kid?"

"Well, you coulda..." Matt quickly clamped his hand over his younger brother's mouth before something came out that could get them killed.

"Never mind. I know way too much about the sexual activites of the Lawson than is good for me without you giving me more nightmares." When he was finally satisfied that Jeff was not going to finish his sentence, Matt took his hand away.

"Can we get on with this?" Mark leaned against the wall, a strange expression on his face. Almost like he was enjoying watching this little piece of drama play out, but he wanted to find Tom, and put this thing to bed before anything that linked to the deaths of the two homicide detectives was discovered.

"Yeah. This talking about me when I'm not around is really starting to piss me off." Cooper joined the fray in the bathroom.

"Cooper, we..."

"If all of you had spent less time worrying about trying to be my dad, how this was going to affect your marriage, being an asshole, being a bigger asshole, and fuck, I don't even know why you came along, then this thing might have been over a long time ago." Cooper ranted, pointing at Mark, Jeff, Matt, James, and Randy in turn.

"Oh really?" Mark raised his eyebrows at his son. "You have it all figured out, do ya boy?"

"Not all, but shit balls Mark, I got a lot more figured out up here" he tapped his forehead "than any of your jack offs."

"Enlighten us." James went over to lean against the wall next to Mark. "I can't wait to hear this."

"What do we know so far?"

"Tom's missing."

"You and Jeff fucked."

"According to you, my parenting skills blow." Everyone started talking at once.

"Yes, yes, and fuck yes," Cooper answered. "Tom came back here, that much is for fuckin' sure. For whatever reason, he blew what was left of Patrick's head off with two shots, but someone else had to be here. The finger proves it. If, for whatever reason, that pussy decided to take the coward's way out, then the police would have found a body, not just a mystery bullet casing!"

"So, you're saying Tommy is still alive?" Jeff whispered.

"I'm willing to bet on it," Cooper answered.

"Crap," James muttered, earning him a slap from Mark.

"The only thing we need to do is figure out who took him, and where he is, and then we call all go back to our merry little fucking lives." Cooper stated "And if any of you has a problem with that, Dad, then you can just fuck right off. Any fuckin' questions?"

They all shook their heads.

"Since you seem to have all this figured out, what do we do?" Mark asked.

"I vote for a massive orgy," James replied.

"Fuck that!" Mark slapped him again

"What the fuck was that for?" James rubbed his cheek, then punched Mark in the face.

"That was gonna be my suggestion," Mark said with a pout.

"Is that all they do? Fight and fuck?" Randy whispered to Matt.

"Unfortunately, yes," Matt replied

"Problem, you two?" Cooper was certainly taking control of the situation, and daring anyone to tell him otherwise.

"Nope," Matt and Randy answered as one.

"Good. You two search the back rooms." He pointed to Mark and James because he didn't want Jeff anywhere near where they'd found a piece of Tom. "You three search the front."

"And you will..."

"I am going to finish hacking that damn computer and figure out where those tweets were coming from." Cooper announced "And if anyone has I problem with that, I got to words for ya..."

"Suck it?" Jeff guessed, giggling.

"Fuck you." Cooper stormed out of the bathroom. The discussion was over as far as he was concerned and it was now time for action and action was something he was good at.

....

_I'm going to kill James and Mark. I really am. I'm going to wrap my hands around their necks and squeeze until their eyes pop out of their skulls._ These were the homicidal thoughts that were going through Glenn's head. He seriously hated both of them right now. They had thrown him to the over hyper wolf that was Connor and had left him to sink or swim. And at the moment, he was going to sink unless he somehow managed to calm the psycho down.

"VROOM VROOM VROOM VROOM!" Connor yelled at the top of his lungs. He was running all around the room, pretending to be a racecar. It had been slightly less annoying than the dildo thing at first, but now it was just as bad. "VROOM VROOM! VROOM VROOM! FIRE FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!" He hurled himself down to the floor and began rolling all over the floor. "FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE!"

"Did James feed you a shit load of sugar?" Glenn finally asked. "What the fuck has gotten into you?"

Connor completely ignored him and got back up to his feet. "GLENN!"

"What?"

"You're on fire!"

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are! You gotta roll around on the floor really quickly so the fire gnomes can suck it off you and make you not be on fire."

Glenn blinked several times. "Well then I'm just going to burn because there is no way in hell I'm letting a gnome suck me in any way, shape or form."

Connor pouted. "Dumbass." The pout quickly disappeared and he once again began running around the room. "DILDO! DILDO! DILDO! DILDO!"

"Connor--"

"DILDO! DILDO! DILDO! DIL--"

"CONNOR! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Connor stopped and started crying. Whether the tears that fell from his eyes were real or not was up for debate. But the crying itself was really loud and obnoxious. "Meanie! Nobody loves me and my dildos anymore!"

Glenn rolled his eyes. "You're halfway right. We definitely don't love your dildos anymore. But we still love you."

"LIAR!" Connor shrieked. He began banging his head against the floor as hard as he could.

"Damn it, would you stop that?" Glenn snapped. The last thing he needed was for Connor to give himself a concussion and then have James get all pissed off about that. He grabbed Connor and pulled him up to his feet. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

Connor sniffled. "Uncle Glenn?"

"What?"

"I...I...DILDO!" Connor wrenched himself out of Glenn's and ran out of the room.

Glenn sighed. _That's it...I'm knocking the bastard out. I can't take this shit no more._

....

"So...are you ever going to stop being an asshole about this whole thing?" Mark asked, almost not approaching this subject but doing it anyway. He and James hadn't really said much during their search, but he could practically see the smoke coming out of James's ears, which was not a good thing.

"Fuck you," James muttered.

Mark rolled his eyes. "I knew that was what you were going to say."

"Yeah, you know me so damn well."

"Come on Lawson, just stop. You've thrown your tantrum for long enough. Can't you just be a mature and--" Mark couldn't even finish that statement before he started laughing. What the hell was he thinking? Asking James to be mature about anything was like asking Connor not to be annoying. It just wasn't going to happen.

James glared at Mark. "Why does it have to be the damn Hardys? Why? Those three..." His voice trailed off and he just made a very loud and frustrated noise.

"Uh...need I remind you that you used to have a relationship with Jeff?"

"Need I remind you that my relationship with him almost cost me you?"

Mark sighed. "Cooper doesn't have anything to loose here."

"Sure he does. He's lusting after a married couple who, despite one being one of the biggest idiots on the planet and the other being a walking cum dumpster, love each other so much that it's sickening. Do you really think that they're going to let Cooper in on any of that shit? Do you really think either of them actually gives a rat's ass about him? Maybe I would be less of a dick about this situation if I could see a happy ending for Cooper in all of this, but I don't." When James was done ranting, he kicked the wall and then clammed up again.

Mark sighed. "Did you tell Cooper that?"

"No. He doesn't want to hear it."

"Maybe you should tell him. He might get why you're being an asshole about this."

"And maybe you should start looking around for clues. I actually want to find Tom's kidnapper now. I'm going to buy that bastard a steak dinner before Cooper slaughters him."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Oh Lawson...what the fuck am I going to do with you?"

James smirked. "I can think of some stuff.

Mark smirked back. "Horny bastard."

"You know you love it."

"Oh I do. I really fucking do."

….

"This would be a lot easier if we had a clue what we were looking for." Randy stared at a framed picture of the late owner hanging across from the bar. "And what makes Cooper think that there's anything else to find? We've already found his phone, his gun, and possibly a finger, but Christ, you'd think if there was anything else to find we'd a-found it already."

"I agree. We're running out of time." Matt looked around the front. He cocked his head to the right. "Jeffro, you've come here more than me. Can I ask you somethin'?"

"What Matters?" Jeff skipped over.

"Does this look right to you?" Matt pointed to the wall. Jeff scrunched his eyes and stared at the pictures.

"Yeah, it's..." Jeff's eyes widened. "That one picture is upside down!"

"That's what I thought." Matt yanked the picture from the wall and looked at the square where it had hung. Right under where the picture would've hung had it been in it's rightful position was a small hole.

"Is that what I think it is?" Randy came over for a better look.

"For Jeff's sake, I hope so." Matt stuck his finger into the hole and wriggled it around a little.

"Well?" Jeff anxiously hopped from one foot to the other. "C'mon, Matty, hurry up!"

Matt reached into his pocket for his Swiss Army Knife. He pried the blade into the hole and worked it around until a small object fell onto the floor with a small thud. Matt picked it up and looked at it.

"Ladies and gentlemen..."

"Ahem!" Randy looked around. "There's just us."

"Oh... gentlemen and gentlemen, we have found our missing bullet."


	15. Theories, Fights and Screwed

Cooper barely heard any of the conversations outside the office. He had successfully hacked into Tim's computer and was well onto his way to sourcing Tom's tweets. There had been a series of tweets, dating back the past two days. The first one was a little disturbing... one simple word: "OWIE", but the time frame matched when the finger had to have been planted in the club.

Since that, there had been four more tweets posted... they all seemed to indicate that Tom was being held somewhere, and based on the second to last one, it was near a bridge. The comments also gave the idea that Tom was generally afraid of whomever was holding him captive. This surprised Cooper more than anything else. From their earlier adventures, Tom had come across as the type not to become frightened by a lot of things, even standing up to both he and James on prior occasions.

Unfortunately, there was no way to trace where the tweets were coming from. He'd figure that maybe he could source the IP address, but they were all different. Given the elapsed time between the final four tweets, it didn't make a lot of sense that Tom could've been moved each time. Cooper read and re-read the last one... "I can't... he'll kill me if I tell... just help!"

Something about it didn't make a lot of sense. If what everyone suspected was true, Tom was currently being held captive by someone who was sadistic enough to enjoy a little bit of torture, assuming the second finger did belong to Tom. But Tom was as good as dead if whomever found out that he was using Twitter in the first place, so why wouldn't he risk giving a better clue that his location was 'near a bridge'? And even that wasn't a sure thing, either.

_Why can't anything be simple when it comes to people named Hardy? Fuck, why am I even caring this much? _Cooper looked up when he heard a whoop of either joy or pain from the direction he'd sent the Hardys and Randy to search.

_Probably tripped over his own damn feet. _Cooper turned back to the screen. _Maybe if I can trace the last IP address, it'll give me..._

Cooper was suddenly distracted by sounds of feet on hardwood, followed by Jeff sticking his head in the door.

"Can you be any louder?" Cooper asked.

"Okies." Jeff started banging his feet on the floor, shouting at the top of his lungs, and making enough noise to scare the next door neighbors.

"Thanks, I really needed that."

"But you said..."

"I'm sure there's a reason you barged in here," Cooper demanded.

"Uh... yeah." Jeff had to think for a moment. "We found the third bullet!" he finally exclaimed.

"You what?"

"Yeah.... one of the pictures was hanging upside down and we moved it and there was a hole in the wall behind it and Matty stuck his finger inside and he could feel something but he couldn't get it out then he pried it loose and..." Jeff took a deep breath, interrupting his ramble.

"Show me." Cooper bounded from the chair.

"This way." Jeff took Cooper back up front where Matt and Randy were still staring at the wall.

"... Jeff tells me you found something," Cooper said.

"Something is right," Matt replied. "We're finally starting to make some sense out of this."

"Like what?" Cooper didn't know what they were talking about, but if it meant that this thing would get solved faster, then he was willing to put up with a floor show.

"This is what Matt and I think," Randy said. "Based on the blood splatter, the location of the shells and where we found the third bullet, we figured Tom had to be standing right about where Matt is."

"So?" Cooper answered. "I don't really give a flying fuck where he was standing then, I wanna know where he is now!"

"Why Cooper, I didn't think you cared!" Jeff giggled.

"I don't. I want this over with and I want it over with as soon as fuckin' possible. This bullshit between the Lawsons and the Hardys has got to stop." _I hope they believe that, 'coz I sure don't._

"Cooper..." Jeff whined

"Okay, say for the sake of shit that Tom was standing there... what's your point?"

"If he was standing here, then the only way someone could've taken him is if they snuck up behind him. If he or she came from any other direction, Tom would've seen him." Randy continued

"And if they grabbed Tom from behind, it probably explains why the third shot went over there." Matt added

"I still don't know how this helps us." Cooper replied

"There are only two doors in this place. The front and side entrances. Whoever grabbed Tom didn't drag him out either door because he would've left at least one footprint in the blood," Matt answered.

"He could've stepped around it. I mean, come on..."

"Come on, is right. Have you taken a close look at what your Dads did?" Randy interjected.

Cooper cringed at the word 'dads', but kept silent.

"It's just not possible. Even Mark made a boot print the first time he came back." Randy pointed to the boot mark. "Either that, or Khali stopped by for lunch."

"Can you get to the point please? If I wanted another episode of CSI, I'd be at home right now watching TV."

"The point is... we don't know who did it or why they did it yet, but we've got a rough idea of where Tom is," Matt answered.

"You do?" Jeff and Cooper responded.

"The one place no one would think to look," Randy responded.

"And where would that be, Sherlock?"

"Right here."

Cooper blinked several times. That had been the last thing he had been expecting to hear. "Okay...that's a possibility...but if that's the case then he doesn't realize that he's here."

"Well considering that this place was obviously used for something more than just a club, I'm not surprised," Matt said. "I mean we've looked a lot of places and hadn't found him yet. If he is here, there's gotta be way more to this place than what we've already seen."

"But according to his tweets, he says he's near a bridge," Cooper told them. "Although he didn't seem too sure of that, so maybe--"

"Tommy!" Jeff suddenly yelled. "Tommy? Can you hear me? Tommy!"

"He might not be able to hear you Jeff," Randy said gently. "If he's being kept somewhere with sound proof walls--"

"Shush you!" Jeff ordered. He began walking around. "Tom? Baby? Are you here?"

Cooper shook his head. "We're just going to have to tear this place even more apart," he told Randy and Matt. "I hacked into Tom's twitter account but the last four I saw had different IP addresses."

"And what does that mean in stupid people terms?" Randy asked.

"It should mean that he was moved between tweets, but given the close time range they were sent out, it doesn't make sense that he was moved after each tweet."

"So basically the hacking was a bust then," Matt concluded.

Cooper shrugged. "I read his tweets and he's definitely scared of his captor."

Matt paled. "Oh God..."

"Look, you two help Jeff and I'll go find my dad and Mark," Cooper said, knowing that they needed to get down to business. "If Tom's still here, we'll find him."

Randy and Matt both nodded and went after Jeff. Cooper quickly went back to where he had told James and Mark had been sent to look. He was really hoping that he didn't catch them fucking each other's brains out. He knew that despite the fact that Mark actually did want to find Tom, James had the ability to be a great distraction. Add in the fact that he didn't want Tom found, there was no telling what the psycho would do to hinder the process.

"Marky I'm cold," Cooper heard James complain.

"Oh quit whining Lawson," Mark replied. "It's not that bad."

"It is too," James insisted. He stomped his feet very loudly. "Do you think that we'll find more of Tom's body parts around here?"

_He sounds way too eager for that,_ Cooper thought to himself as he went into the freezer that Mark and James were in. They had their backs to him, so they hadn't noticed he was there yet.

"I don't know," Mark said with a shrug. "Maybe. Maybe not. It depends how sadistic his kidnapper is."

"Good point. Now where do you think Cooper put Tom's finger?"

"How the hell should I know? Why don't you just ask him?"

"Cuz he'll want to know why I'm asking."

Mark stopped and glared at him. "Wait, why do you want to know?"

James shrugged. "No reason..."

"Bullshit Lawson! Bull fucking shit. Come on, it's me. Just tell me what you want with that finger."

"Well...I was thinking about feeding it to Snoopy."

"What?" Cooper said loudly, revealing his presence to Mark and James.

James winced as he turned around. "Uh oh," he muttered.

Cooper folded his arms over his chest. He was seriously done with James's crap right now. He was completely and totally irritated with his father. "You're not getting Tom's finger," he said bluntly. "Hell will freeze over before I let you have it, so you better get that idea out of your head right this instant! You understand me?"

James shook his head. "Who the fuck died and put you in charge?"

"Lawson," Mark said, obviously warning him to shut his mouth.

"Nobody had to fucking die," Cooper snapped. "Someone here had to do it and it ended up being me."

James rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. Cooper knew Mark heard it because the Deadman gave James an exasperated look, but he himself didn't quite catch all of it. "What did he say?"

"I said you were wasting your time," James repeated. "You would be better off letting me feed the finger to Snoopy and letting the others find the asshole."

"Well what if I don't agree with you?" Cooper asked. "Huh? What then?"

"Well then that's your problem," James replied. He looked around one last time before shaking his head. "This is stupid," he muttered. He began to walk out.

Cooper growled. He wasn't going to put up with this anymore. "If you're going to be like that, just go," he said. "It's obvious that you don't want to be here, so quit wasting your time and mine."

James turned around and gave him a defiant look. "Would you quit fucking telling me what to do?" he asked. "I'm really getting sick and tired of it."

"I don't give a rat's ass what you're sick and tired of," Cooper snapped. "So why don't you--"

"Okay, I'm stepping in here," Mark said, putting himself in between James and Cooper. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"He started it!" Cooper pointed out.

"I know he did," Mark said. "But--James, where are you going?"

Cooper rolled his eyes as James just stormed out without sticking around to hear what Mark had to say. "Just let him go," he told Mark. "I might hit him if he sticks around." He pinched the bridge of his nose. He was starting to get a killer headache.

"You okay?" Mark asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I do."

Cooper shook his head. "You never did before." _Damn it, Dad was right: it really IS cold in here._

"Maybe not at first," Mark admitted. "Look, Cooper, I used to be a grade A asshole. Hell, sometimes I'm still that way. But I'm trying to make an effort now. Can you cut me any slack here?'

Cooper sighed. He didn't have time for this. Mark seemed genuine, but having the full discussion that needed to take place between them was going to take more time than they had at the moment. "Look," he finally said. "Let's just focus on finding Tom and killing whoever it is who kidnapped him. And then, when that's done...we'll talk, okay?" He wasn't sure if he really was ready to forgive Mark, but if saying that would stall the talk, then he was willing to say it.

Mark grinned just a little. "That's something at least."

"Yeah...you asshole."

Mark just laughed. "Did you find anything when you were hacking into the computer?"

Cooper sighed and told Mark about the tweets, the IP address thing, the bullet Matt, Jeff and Randy found and the theory that Tom could possibly still be in the club (all while they were walking around looking of course--they weren't wasting more time by just standing still). "What do you think?" he asked when he was all done. "You think he's still here?"

Mark shrugged. "I don't know. He could be. But there's also a possibility that he's not."

"Yeah well, this is the only place that--" Cooper stopped in mid-sentence when he saw James coming towards them. "What now?" he asked angrily. "You got something else to say to me about all this?"

James just let that comment slide. "We've got a problem," he announced.

"I don't like the sound of that," Mark muttered.

"Cop cars just pulled to the club. We've got maybe twenty seconds before this place is swarming with pigs."

"Fuck!" Cooper cussed loudly. This was bad. This was really really bad. If they were caught in here, they were going to be beyond screwed. "Jeff!" he yelled. He ran forward and began motioning for the Hardys and Orton to come over to him. "Dudes, we gotta get out of here!" He cast a nervous look to the door. They were over by the stairs that led up to the balcony, so they would be at least somewhat out of view when the cops came in.

"But we didn't find Tom!" Jeff protested.

Cooper just grabbed Jeff's and Matt's wrists while Mark grabbed Randy. "I know," Cooper said. "But--"

Suddenly the front was kicked open and in came the cops. _Oh fuck,_ Cooper thought as he put his hand over Jeff's mouth and ducked as much out of sight as he could. _Fucking cops....this might not end well._


	16. Methods of Persuation

_I knew this shit was a bad idea. I knew I should have fucking just dragged Cooper and Mark out of here while I had the chance. Now look what's happened! The pigs have fucking come in and they could arrest us all if we don't get the hell out of here._ James shook his head as he thought all of that. To say he was not a happy camper would be an understatement. He had already had his fill of cops with Armstrong and Smothers, so having more of them show up really wasn't doing anything to improve his mood. Add in the fact that he was irritated with about this whole situation in general, and it made him want to really kill someone.

_What I should do is throw Matt, Jeff and Randy to the pigs and get myself, Mark and Cooper out of here. That way I can get rid of the rest of the Hardys and Matt's slut and be done with it._ But even as he thought that, he knew that he couldn't do that without having Cooper bitching at him afterwards. Or worse, he could do it and then Cooper would try to save them and get caught himself. And despite being completely irritated with his oldest son, there was no way in hell that he was going to let anything like that happen to him.

He tapped Mark on the shoulder and then pointed towards the back of the club. They needed to get moving right away because the cops were starting to look around. Mark looked to where he was pointing and nodded. He seemed to understand that he was going to be the one making sure the others got their asses in gear because James sure as shit didn't feel like doing it himself.

"Are you sure this isn't a prank?" one of the cops asked. "It might have just been some dumbass playing a joke."

"I doubt that," one of the other cops replied. "I've got a feeling that someone is here."

_That feeling is going to get you killed you douchebag,_ James thought as he got around the corner. He peeked back around just to see how many cops there were. As far as he could tell, there were just two. _Why the hell are they even here? Who the hell saw us coming in here? Marky and I didn't see anyone...ugh, I hate this shit._ A theory was starting to form in his head and it wasn't one that he liked. What if the person who had Tom had figured out they were there and called the cops on them? The bastard could have done it just to fuck with them. The thought of it made his blood boil even more. Someone was going to have to die for this. He was going to stab someone in the heart, rip out their intestines and then string them up from the tallest tree.

"Did you see that?" the cop who had the "feeling" asked.

"See what?" the other cop asked dumbly.

The first cop sighed impatiently. "Damn it Marsh, you're blind as a fucking bat. Just follow me, okay?"

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck!_ James cursed inwardly. If the cops were coming their way, he was going to have to kill them. Sure he would enjoy it immensely, but it also meant that Mark was going to have another mess to clean up, which was not good because that would put the Deadman in a crabby mood. And Mark in a crabby mood meant that Mark would never shut the fuck up with his complaining, and he was not in the mood to hear that shit.

"Why can't we just hide until the cops go away?" Jeff asked Cooper. "Tom--"

"If we get arrested, how the fuck are we going to help Tom?" Cooper shot back. "We'll come back."

"But what if the bad man hurts Tom more in the time that takes?"

"And what if it turns out he's not even here?"

"Well we won't know unless we--"

"Hey! Dipshits! Shut up!" James ordered in a hushed voice. He opened up the back door. "Let's get the fuck out of here right the fuck now!"

"I'm with you there," Mark muttered as he limped out the door. Matt and Randy went out after him and then James motioned for Cooper and Jeff to go. The only problem was that neither of them went. They both just stood there, talking quietly among themselves. "What the fuck are you two doing?" James asked. He was two seconds away from grabbing them both by the collar and tossing them out into the alley on their asses.

"Please Cooper?" Jeff said, ignoring James and giving Cooper a pleading look.

Cooper sighed. "Jeff I---" He stopped and shook his head. "Okay." He looked at James. "Sorry Dad."

"Sorry? For--oh hell no! Cooper! Get your ass back over here!" That order did absolutely no good though. Jeff and Cooper were going back into the club.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Matt muttered. He and Randy began to chase after Jeff but ended up being shoved back by James. "What are you doing? We have to get them!"

"I'll get them," James growled. He looked at Mark. "Get Dumb and Dumber out of here. I'll chase down Twinky and Cooper."

Mark sighed. "Be careful."

James snorted. "Yeah, like I can do that." He shut the door and then went to chase after Cooper and Jeff. _I swear to God, I'm going to strangle the both of them. I'm going to kill those cops and then I'll strangle them and teach them not to be fucking dumbasses._

...

Jeff's banging had in fact attracted the attention of one of the neighbors and she had called the police about the noises coming from the club. The local force was a little hesitant to send any more cops that way since the bodies of detectives Smothers and Armstrong had only recently been found. No link had been proven, but it was obvious that something about their last case had gotten them killed and no one was really anxious to meet a similar fate. Exasperated, the chief had sent Marsh and Bradbury, two of the greenest rookies on the force, with instructions that if they find anything, to call it in immediately and he'd send the entire force to deal with it.

"It's probably just a cat or something," Marsh said.

"If it is, then we're on our way in five minutes," Bradbury replied

"But what if it isn't?"

"Then you better hope that you're a good shot." Bradbury raised his gun and motioned for Marsh to follow him. ...

....

"Jeff, you're fuckin' nuts!" Cooper croaked hoarsely. "What exactly are you gonna do?"

"Cops are gonna help us find Tommy."

Cooper realized too late that Jeff's impetuousness was probably going to get them both arrested. He was more than willing to duck out of sight with Jeff until the police left, maybe getting a quick grope in, and then resuming their search, but this was unheard of. Cops and Lawsons working together... _this gets more fucked up with every passing moment!_

"Hey, you two! Hold it right there!"

_Shit, we're fucked!_ Cooper thought as they were spotted.

"What are you two doing here? This is a crime scene!" Marsh had his weapon pointed at the pair, and Bradbury soon joined in.

"Good fuckin' question," Cooper blurted out.

"And we're waiting for a good fuckin' answer," Marsh retorted "Unless you'd rather talk downtown."

_Here we go again_. Cooper took a step back and hoped that Jeff's ability at convincing was on par with certain other members of his family.

"Well?" Neither cop seemed to anxious to put down their weapons.

"Imma lookin' for someone!" Jeff blurted out.

Marsh looked at Bradbury, who shrugged indifferently. "But that still doesn't explain what the two of you are doing wandering through a crime scene."

"Imma told you. We're looking for someone!" Jeff repeated. "How hard is this for you to understand?"

"Okay... who?"

"My husband," Jeff answered, sounding like it was painfully obvious.

Bradbury sniggered. "What would your husband be doing here?" Marsh asked

"I dunno. Why are people anywhere?" Jeff shrugged.

"We don't have a lot of patience right now. Either be a little more direct or we're taking you both in."

_I'd like to see you try._ Behind Jeff's back, Cooper reached into his pocket for his knife. He was almost ready to use it when Jeff took a deep breath, and in his own unique style, told the cops the basics of Tom's disappearance. Cooper tried not to look too impatient or agitated, but it was kind of a hard thing to do. He had been raised to not trust cops, so it was hard to ignore his instinct to kill them to protect himself. Somehow though, he was managing to do that.

"If you're so worried about him, why didn't you go to the police right away instead of breaking the law?" Marsh was not convinced of Jeff's story.

"I dunno." Jeff sighed, his lower lip starting to quiver. "I jus' want my Tommy back" he sniffled, a (fake?) tear tricking from his eye.

Marsh still wasn't totally believing Jeff, but his partner was a little softer. "What makes you think he's here?" Bradbury asked.

"Uhm..." As Jeff hesitated, Cooper stepped back into the picture. "I'm kinda hopin' you'll help us prove that he isn't so he'll leave me alone about it." He relaxed his grip on his knife just enough to draw their attention away from his hand. Bradbury looked at Marsh, who shrugged indifferently. "What do you want us to do?" he asked.

....

_What do you want us to do...Jesus Christ, how fucking stupid are these guys?_ James had been watching the entire exchange from the shadows and he didn't know what the hell to think anymore. While he had never credited any cop with an overabundance of brains, these two were obviously newer and dumber than the garden variety. But there was no way Jeff could have known that, and James wanted to smack him because the idiot could have gotten himself and Cooper arrested. He also wanted to smack Cooper for following Jeff and putting himself in a position that could have gotten him arrested. And on top of both of those things, not only was he hungry as hell, but he was dying to freaking kill someone. Excluding Armstrong and Smothers, James hadn't had a kill since he, Mark and Connor slaughtered Patrick. _Must kill someone...really must kill someone or I'm going to go into a fucking withdrawal._

He retreated further into the shadows as Jeff and Cooper began working with the cops. If he wasn't seeing it for himself, he wouldn't have believed it. And even though he was seeing it, he didn't WANT to believe it. He didn't trust cops. He never had and he never would. Nothing good had ever come from his encounters with them, and he could just imagine how this could bite Cooper in the ass in the process. But he didn't know what to do about it now. If he was spotted now, it would raise questions as to why he was there and it could ruin the spell Jeff had managed to cast on the two cops. And even though he could just kill the cops and put an end to their unholy existence, ruining what Jeff managed to do was probably going to get Cooper bitching at him again. And he had already had more than his fill of that bullshit.

Sighing, James reluctantly started heading towards the exit in the back again. He didn't want to leave Cooper there by himself, but he couldn't just stand there and watch anymore. Not without taking care of his bloodlust first anyway. Once that was taken care of, he could sneak back in and keep an eye on his son.

He opened the back door and exited the club. Matt and Randy weren't in the alley anymore, but Mark was still there. "What the hell are you doing?" James asked. "I told you to--"

"Matt and Randy are at Tom's Viper," Mark interrupted. "They didn't want to leave at all so I had to promise that I would wait out here until Jeff had gotten out safely." He tried to look behind James. "Where are Cooper and Jeff anyway? You were supposed to--"

"Change of plan," James said unhappily. "Jeff cried like a little bitch and now the cops are HELPING him and Cooper look for Tom."

Mark blinked, clearly taken aback by what James had just said. "Are you serious?"

"Yup." James began to walk away, looking around for either a hooker or a homeless guy. Since they were in a dirty alley by a sleazy club, he knew that one of those two things had to be around somewhere.

"And you're just going to let that happen," Mark said as he followed James. "Wow, I think that's the most surprising thing about all this."

James rolled his eyes. "Well what was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know." Mark shoved his hands into his pocket. "But I'm sure you shouldn't be doing what I think you're doing right now."

James raised his eyebrows. "And just what exactly do you think I'm doing right now?"

"Don't play dumb with me Lawson. We both know what you're doing."

James grinned, but it wasn't because of what Mark said. It was because he found a bum sleeping in a box that was falling apart. The smell that was coming off the guy was absolutely disgusting, and James almost lost the urge to kill him because he didn't want to contaminate it.

Almost was the key word.

"Would you control yourself?" Mark asked angrily as James woke the bum up by violently kicking him in the ribs. "There are two cops just inside the fucking club!"

"So?" James replied. He kicked the bum in the ribs and then stomped on his face.

"Damn it Lawson!" Mark grabbed James by the back of the shirt and yanked him back. "That's enough!"

James shoved Mark in the chest. "No it's not! I've had a fucking bad day and I haven't had a decent kill in forever!"

"This is a decent kill?"

"It's decent enough." James slipped past Mark and grabbed the bum by the back of the neck. The bum attempted to cry out for help but James punched the air right out of his body. "Come on Marky, the cops here are stupid and it's not like anyone's going to miss this asshole." As he was saying this, he took the knife out of his pocket and jammed it right into the guy's chest. Blood spurted out of the wound and got all over James's hands, the bum's shirt and the ground.

Mark groaned. "This better make you feel better Lawson."

James grinned as he yanked the knife out and shoved the dying man to the ground. "Oh believe me, it definitely will."


	17. All Hope Is Gone

"This place gives me the creeps," Bradbury commented as he and Marsh helped Cooper and Jeff search the club. Both cops had their guns out and looked ready to use them at any moment. That actually made Cooper really nervous. Since both of them seemed more than a little brain dead, the chances of him and Jeff getting shot on accident were pretty high. What he had to hope for right now was for either the cops not having to use the guns, or the cops accidentally shooting themselves in the foot. _If Jeff gets shot then I'm going to have to kill the sons of bitches. And if I get shot, I won't even get a chance to rip their heads off; Dad will make sure to do it before I even get to a hospital._

Jeff nodded in agreement. "It gives me the creeps too. I think it's haunted." He looked at Cooper. "What do you think? Do you think it's haunted?"

"No," Cooper replied honestly. They were heading towards the back of the club now. He pointed towards the freezers. "How about you guys check in there and Jeff and I will check in the storage room?"

Marsh and Bradbury exchanged apprehensive looks. "I don't know," Marsh said slowly. "I don't think you two should be running around here on your own."

Cooper rolled his eyes. He was going to be playing his role as the reluctant friend that got dragged along into this mess to the best of his abilities. "Oh come on, there's nothing here. The sooner we prove that to Jeff, the sooner we can all get the hell out of here."

Jeff glared at him. "Cooper! Quit being negative!"

Cooper ignored him and just kept talking to the cops. "And if we split up, we can get out of here that much faster." He forced himself to grin. "Come on guys, I've got a hot date tonight. I don't have time for this. And I'm sure you two have much better things to do." It took every ounce of willpower he had not to start laughing as he said that. He doubted very much that the cops actually had something better to do besides sit in their parents basement and jackoff to internet porn.

"He's got a point," Bradbury said to Marsh. "I mean, what could it hurt?"

Marsh stared at Bradbury for a moment before looking at Cooper and Jeff. Cooper tried not to look too impatient and Jeff smiled as cutely as he could. "Fine," he said. "We can split up. But I still don't want you two going off by yourselves." He pointed to Jeff. "You go with Bradbury here and check these rooms. I'll go with Cooper to check the storage room."

Cooper wanted to argue but he didn't risk it. That would waste valuable time. _Hell, maybe it's better if I go with this asshole_, he thought to himself as he and Marsh went back to the storage room. _At least I won't have to worry about inappropriately timed naughty thoughts about him. He looks like someone beat him with the ugly stick. Ugh, he's gross. I wish I was going with Jeff. Jeff may be annoying as hell sometimes, but even then he's nice to look at._

"Holy shit," Marsh muttered under his breath as they entered the room. "It looks like someone had a party in here."

Cooper looked around. This was the room he had gotten insanely drunk and passed out in after his fight with Patrick. There was broken glass all over the floor and several boxes were overturned. He knew that he liked to throw shit around when he got drunk, but he had to wonder if he had done all of this or if someone else had contributed to the mess.

"Jeff seems pretty convinced that we're going to find Tom in here," Marsh commented as they began to look around.

"Uh huh," Cooper said. He made sure to go on the opposite side of the room just so that there was some distance between him and Marsh. Being this close to a cop was making him twitch, and it was not a pleasant feeling.

"What are you guys going to do if we don't find him?"

Cooper shrugged. "I have no idea. I don't think either of us have thought that far ahead yet." He looked over to his right and noticed that the boxes stacked up against the wall were all neat and organized. Then he looked over to his left and noticed all the boxes over there looked like they had been thrown there in a hurry. It was a minor detail that could be explained as something he had done when he had been drunk in here, but for some reason, he didn't think that was the case.

"What are you doing?" Marsh asked as he looked over and caught Cooper moving the boxes out of the way.

"Investigating," Cooper replied without stopping. Now that he was moving the boxes, he could see the outline of a door. _Someone obviously didn't want this to be seen...and for some reason, I doubt it was Tim or Patrick_. He really couldn't explain why he thought that, but why he thought anything wasn't important. His instincts were telling him to get the boxes out of the way and get that door open, and that was what he was going to do.

Once the boxes were all out of the way, he tried to open the door. It was locked though, and he didn't feel like taking the time to pick the lock. He took a step back, raised his right foot up in the air and then looked at Marsh. "If what I'm about to do is not okay with you, I suggest you look the fuck away right now."

Marsh shook his head. "As an officer of the law, I give you my permission to kick that door open. But if anyone besides Bradbury or Jeff asks, I did it, okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Cooper replied. He kicked the door open so violently that it smashed into the wall. But the loud bang that caused was completely overshadowed by the smell that immediately greeted him and Marsh. It was not only completely putrid, but it was amazingly overpowering. Marsh immediately covered his nose and mouth but Cooper couldn't do it. He froze up, knowing exactly what that smell was but not wanting to believe it.

"Jesus Christ on a cross!" Marsh exclaimed. "It smells like something died in there!"

Cooper didn't even begin to address Marsh's obvious statement. He just walked through the door, his stomach turning violently as the smell invaded his nostrils. He was trying not to breathe through his nose, but at this point it was pretty much too late. The stench of death had overpowered him. He had smelled it before many times in his life; it came with the territory of what he and his family did. But never before had it smelled so fucking strong before.

The room was pitch black, and it took several minutes of fumbling before Cooper managed to find the light switch. As soon as the light was on though, he immediately wished that he hadn't done that. The first thing he saw once his eyes adjusted to the light was Tom's body. Cooper just stared at it, his mind going completely blank for an unknown amount of time. Tom still had on the clothes that he had been wearing the night he disappeared, although they were ripped in several places. Cooper moved his eyes from Tom's eyes and tried to look at the fallen Hardy's face, but he had to look away again. Judging from the decompisition, Tom had to have been dead for days.

"Oh man oh man oh man," Marsh muttered as he came into the room. He looked at Tom's body and then tried to grab Cooper by the arm. He started to say something but Cooper wasn't listening to him at all. He just stepped away while keeping his eyes on Tom's body. A rage he had only felt once before in his life was building up inside of him, and it was making his hands shake. _You stupid bastard...was coming back here worth dying? Who the fuck was even here? Why did they go after you? _

He didn't have any of those answers, but he was starting to realize something. They had found Tom's finger earlier (he was sure it was Tom's now because he could see that one of Tom's hands was missing one) and he had believed that had been Tom's kidnapper (and now killer) toying with them. Now though, he was questioning the tweets from Tom's Twitter account. Had any of those been real? Or had Tom been dead since the very beginning, and the killer had just been playing with them this entire time?

The last thought made Cooper growl and he kicked the nearest crate as hard as he could. He was beyond seething at this point. Someone was going to die for this. He didn't care how long it took and he didn't care who it was. He was going to get the mother fucker responsible for this and absolutely nobody was going to stop him.

"Don't touch anything." Marsh said "I'm calling this in."

Cooper couldn't take his eyes from Tom's face while Marsh radioed for back-up, and the coroner. The more he stared at it, the more he couldn't believe what he was staring at. Less than a week ago, Tom had taken him to indescribable heights of passion and now this.

"They'll be here in five minutes. I would suggest you get your friend and get the hell outta here. I can explain a lot of things, but having you at a crime scene within a crime scene ain't one of them."

Cooper swallowed nervously. In his excitement, he had totally forgotten about Jeff. "Oh fuck... oh fuck... oh fuck..." he repeated over and over. He was barely aware of being pushed out of the storage room and back into the club, where, to his utter horror, Jeff and Bradbury were waiting. Jeff was as white as a ghost and Cooper realized that he must've been close enough to Bradbury to hear Marsh call it in.

"Cooper?" he asked in a very tiny voice.

"Jeff..." Cooper shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry."

"No! You're lying!" Jeff screamed. "He's not dead! Tommy!"

Marsh looked at Bradbury, a "get them the hell outta here right now" expression on his face.

"I'm sorry," Cooper repeated. "I really am."

Jeff turned and ran out the club. Fearful that Jeff might accidentally hurt himself, Cooper followed right on his heels. "Jeff, wait up!" he shouted "Jeff!"

He ran out the side door and skidded to a halt. Mark, James, Randy, and Matt were all standing around with expressions that ranged from total shock to utter disgust and, dare I say it, a little sneer of satisfaction from James. Matt was the first one to find his voice.

"Keep an eye on Jeff." He whispered to Randy, unhooking his younger brother's arms from his neck. Randy nodded serenely.

Cooper knew what was coming and prepared himself.

"Son, don't do anything stupid." Mark took a step toward Matt.

"Mark, back off." James put a cautionary hand on his shoulder.

"But..." Mark was genuinely worried that Matt would fly off the handle.

"Mark, back the fuck off," James said in a much lower and fiercer tone.

Mark looked at James and realized that his lover was right. This was going to be between Cooper and Matt, and the best thing to do was stand by just in case.

"Cooper? Could you tell me what happened? I need to know." Matt pleaded

After an eternal pause, Cooper finally spoke. "There was a hidden room behind where they store the liquor. He was here the whole fucking time!"

Looking over his shoulder where Jeff was crying uncontrollably in Randy's arms, hysterically calling for Tom, Matt felt a surge of emotion.

_Gotta keep it together._ Matt took several deep breaths. "There was no way we coulda known."

"Don't try to make me feel any better, okay?" Cooper barked. "This is all my fuckin' fault."

"You're no more to blame than anybody else," Matt answered.

"Bullshit, Hardy. If I hadn't been such a pussy and called him, he never would've gotten involved in this mess in the first place."

"That a crock and you know it," Matt scowled. It would've been easier to agree with Cooper, and in a convoluted way it was his fault, but Matt wasn't about to let him dwell on it like that. "Tom knew exactly what he was doing when he offered to help. If it's anyone's fault, it's his."

"I know what you're trying to do! Just leave me the fuck alone!" Cooper slid down the wall and wrapped his arms around his legs. "All of you!"

"Cooper..." Matt squatted down beside him.

"Ahem." A soft cough interrupted him.

Everyone looked toward the door. Marsh was standing there, looking both uncomfortable and scared at the same time. "The coroner is a minute out. Unless you all want to be forced to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions, I would suggest that you get outta here right now."

"Pig's right." James saw flashing lights approach.

"I'll steer them through the front door so you can escape... Make sure they use the front door, Bradbury." Marsh yelled into the club.

"What?" Bradbury stuck his own head through the door.

"I said... oh, never mind. Ugh!" Marsh pushed his partner back inside, then followed.

"For once, I agree with James. This ain't a safe place to stick around," Randy said

The group split off into two trios, Matt, Jeff and Randy going in one direction and James, Mark, and Cooper going in the other.

The second they arrived back at their house, the Lawsons were met by a very frazzled Glenn.

"Thank fuck you're back... I swear that kid will be..." His words died when he saw their expressions. "Oh, fuck... what happened?"

Cooper pushed past Glenn, and sprinted into his bedroom.

"Tom's dead," Mark answered. "Cooper found his body in the club."

"Shit!" Glenn whispered "How's he takin' it?"

"How the fuck would you expect him to take it?" James roared. "And what business is it of yours, Crispy?"

"Just askin'. I woulda thought you'd be happy," Glenn replied. "There's one less pain in your ass."

"Knock it off you two before I start handing out recepits!" Mark glared at them both, then turned and walked away.

"Where the fuck you goin' Marky-Mark?"

"Guess." If they wanted to beat the crap out of each other, that was fine with him, but this time Mark refused to hang around and watch. This might be his best chance to prove to Cooper that he wanted to be a Dad to him, and Mark wasn't going to let it pass him by.

"Cooper?" Mark banged on his bedroom door. "Can we talk?"


	18. Drowning in Sorrow

Cooper heard Mark ask to come in, but he didn't give the Deadman an answer. Mark was the last person he wanted to see right now. "Fuck," he whispered as he sat down on the edge of his bed. He had absolutely no idea what to do with himself. All he could do was see Tom's body again over and over again in his mind and hear Jeff screaming and crying in grief. He wanted to block it out, but he couldn't. It all just kept replaying in his head over and over again.

Mark knocked again. "Cooper?"

"Go away," Cooper finally said. Why was that so hard for Mark to do? Did the bastard think he was going to be in here crying his eyes out? No. Fuck that shit. Crying never fixed a damn thing in his life. Hell, he hadn't even cried that much when he was a baby (at least that was what James had always said). There were only three situations that he could remember that had made him cry. One of the times had been when about four and a half, and he had found out his mom had been pregnant with Connor. He had been absolutely convinced that meant his parents had been tired of him and that they were going to throw him away once the baby was born (to this day he couldn't even begin to fathom where he got that idea, but at the time it scared the living shit out of him). Then he had cried when his mom had died. He had cried for weeks and weeks after that. It hadn't helped that James pretty much had a nervous breakdown and was really no use to anyone for quite awhile after that. As for the last time--"

"Cooper!" Mark yelled. "Please open the fucking door!"

Cooper responded by taking off both of his shoes and flinging them at the door as hard as he could. "Leave me alone!" he shouted. What the fuck was so hard to understand about that? If he had wanted to talk, he wouldn't have come all the way up here. No, no amount of talking was going to do him any good. All he wanted to do was kill the mother fucker who had killed Tom and then forget that any of this had ever happened.

There was a few moments of silence from Mark. Then Cooper could have sworn he heard someone fiddling with his lock. _That mother fucker is picking my lock!_ He quickly got up to his feet and got the door opened before Mark could finish what he was doing. "I should hit you," he growled.

Mark just shrugged and walked into the room. "Go ahead. It wouldn't be the first time you've done it."

Cooper scowled as he shut the door. "Why can't you leave me alone? If Dad's not up here bothering me, you should just back the hell off."

"And leave you up here to your own devices?" Mark shook his head. "I know how you handle these kinds of things."

Cooper rolled his eyes and went over to his desk. There was nothing he really wanted from the thing, but he figured that if he messed around with it long enough, it would distract him from Mark being there.

Mark kept his distance from Cooper but his eyes never left the younger man. "Did you love him?"

Cooper, completely caught off guard by Mark's question, ended up knocking all kinds of shit off the desk and down to the floor. "What?" he said incredulously.

"Did you love Tom?" Mark asked calmly.

"No!" Cooper denied immediately. "He drove meway too nuts for it to even begin to be love."

"James and Connor drive you nuts but you love them."

"That's different. They're family." He began picking up the stuff he had knocked over. "Look, I lusted after Tom for some insane reason, okay? I admit that. But that was all there was."

Mark didn't look like he believed a word Cooper was saying. "If it was just lust, you wouldn't have tried as hard as you did to find him. And you wouldn't be this upset about him dying. You can deny it as much as you want, but you're not going to fool me or yourself. Hell, you won't even be able to fool James, and the last thing he ever wanted to believe was that you felt anything for Tom."

Cooper sighed. He hated it when people got insightful with him. It really irritated the hell out of him. "Even if I did feel something for him, what would it matter now? He's dead. Someone fucking killed him and now Jeff's life is ruined and I'm....I don't even know what the hell I am anymore." He folded his arms over his chest. "I never should have never fucking went to him after Patrick took you guys. He'd probably still be alive if I hadn't."

Mark walked over to him and pulled him back up his feet. "Listen to me," he ordered. "None of this shit is your fault. There's no fucking way any of us could have known Tom was dead the entire time we were looking for him. Beating yourself up over this shit isn't good for you."

Cooper wanted to believe him, but it was a really hard thing for him to do. "That's easy for you to say," he muttered. "You didn't fucking get him involved in this." He slipped away from Mark's grip and went back to picking up everything he had dropped on the floor. He stopped though when he saw a WWE magazine that had all three Hardys on the cover of it. He picked it up slowly and just stared at it. The image of Tom on there was conflicting with the image of his dead body and Cooper had to quickly put the magazine down before it got to him too much.

Mark sighed and picked up some pictures that had been knocked off the desk. "Cooper I---um...do I even want to know what the hell was going on in this picture?"

Cooper took it from Mark and studied it closely. Immediately he felt a lump rise up in his throat. The picture was of him, Connor and Joie, his high school's only transvestite, his only friend back then and the first and only person he had ever actually fallen completely in love with. The picture had been taken on Halloween, so they were all dressed up in their costumes. He had been dressed as a pimp (complete with a giant purple hat, Cuban cigars that he had stolen from James and a cane that he called his pimp stick), Connor had been a little pirate and Joie was dressed up like a giant kitty cat. "It was Halloween," he muttered. He put the picture down on the desk and looked between it and the magazine he had just been holding. He kept looking at the pictures of Tom, Jeff and Joie, his thoughts about all three of them making his head spin. Tom and Joie had both been murdered, ripped away from him before he had been ready to let them go. And Jeff....Jeff didn't love him. Jeff loved Tom. And Tom had loved Jeff. Nobody in this fucked up equation had loved him in the first place.

"Cooper?" Mark said gently. He hesitantly put his hand on Cooper's shoulder. "Son?"

As soon as Mark said that, Cooper snapped. He jerked away from Mark's grip and grabbed the chair that was near his desk. Letting out a yell, he picked it up and began smashing it against the floor as hard as he could. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck--" He tossed the broken chair across the room, causing it to smash the glass. "FUCK!" He shoved Mark aside and went over to his dresser. He took out each and every single drawer and threw them across the room, actually putting dents in his wall. Once all the drawers were out of it, he picked up the dresser and threw that too.

"Cooper!" James yelled. He could be heard thundering up the stairs. "What in the hell is going on up there?"

Cooper didn't answer the question. He just let out a frustrated and pained scream before smashing his fist up against the wall as hard as he could. His fist went through the wall and when he yanked it back out, his knuckles were a bloody mess.

"Okay that's enough," Mark said firmly. He quickly grabbed Cooper's arm before Cooper could punch the wall again.

"Let go of me!" Cooper growled. He tried to yank himself free from Mark's grip.

"No," Mark refused simply.

"Damn it Mark!" Cooper kept trying to pull away from Mark but soon just gave up. As soon as he did that, Mark hesitantly pulled him into a hug. Cooper refused to hug back, but he didn't pull away either. He just buried his face into Mark's chest and tried to regain control of himself. He needed to find the person who killed Tom and make them pay. By the time he was done with them, the mother fucker was going to regret the day he was fucking born. He would make damn sure of that.

...

"...I dunno what the hell we're gonna do." Matt was talking on the phone to an unknown caller. "Things are a fucking mess right now."

"I understand. Just let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks, Adam." Matt hung up and sighed loudly. He'd spent the better part of the day on the phone. No sooner had the story hit the news than the house phone had been ringing off the hook. Jeff was in no condition to talk to anyone. He'd retreated to the bedroom where his cries still echoed throughout the rest of the house. Everyone from Adam, Jay and Stephanie to people he didn't know personally had called with reaction ranging from disbelief to shock and sadness.

He really wished the phone would stop ringing for five seconds so he could be with Jeff. Randy was currently with him, but it didn't sound like his brother was going to calm down any time soon.

The phone rang again.

"Fuck..." Matt picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"I'm so sorry about what happened to your brother."

"Who is this?" Matt didn't recognize the voice.

"Y'know, I just got so busy that I completely forgot about him." The voice chuckled "Oh well, my bad."

Matt's temper spiked. "Listen, you..."

"No, you listen. Send a message to the rest of your gang. You cost me a lot of money. Consider this repayment." The caller spoke in short, terse sentences which was enough to convince Matt that he wasn't dealing with someone who made idle threats. "And tell Lawson this. Tell him not to even think about coming after me or I'll kill his brother too."

'Click'.

"Son of a bitch!" Matt slammed the receiver into the cradle.

"Y'okay, man?" Randy wrapped his arms around Matt's neck.

"I wish this phone would stop ringing for five minutes." Matt ruffled his hair.

"Take a break, Matt." Randy nuzzled against him.

"But..."

"Jeff wants to see you. I'll answer the phone if anyone else calls."

"Thanks." Matt kissed him on the cheek then ran up the stairs. He wasn't even in the bedroom before the phone rang again.

"Hardy residence... thanks for calling Cena..."

Matt shrugged then went into the bedroom without knocking. His brother was curled up on the bed, Bunny and Lizard in his one fist, his cellphone in his other hand, rivers of tears running down his red face.

"Who you talking to?" Matt whispered.

"Tommy." Jeff sobbed, holding the phone out. "Listen."

"Hi... you've reached the Future Tom Hardy. There are two kinds of people in this world... winners and losers. If you're a winner, then leave a message at the tone and I'll get right back to you."

Hearing his late brother's voice was too much for Matt and he broke down. He collapsed onto the edge of the bed, his own eyes filling.

"Matty..." Jeff crawled over and rested his head on his shoulder.

"Jeffro, I'm sorry." Matt bawled loudly, burying his face into Jeff's neck.

"It's not your fault." Jeff replied through his own sobs. "Here." He handed Lizard to Matt, who squeezed it tightly.

They cried in each others arms for several minutes, just like the day Gil passed away which ironically began this whole rollercoaster. Their emotions were finally coming under control when a gentle rap on the door startled both of them.

Randy stuck his head into the door. "Sorry to cut in, but Mark and Cooper are at the door. Do you want me to ask them to leave?"

Matt looked at Jeff, who wiped the moisture from his face with the back of his hand. "No." He took several deep breaths. "Imma talk to Cooper."

_Good. 'Coz I need to talk to Cooper too._

XXXXX

Cooper stared at his feet. Mark had suggested that they go to Matt and Jeff's house and he hadn't fought Taker on the idea. The way he figured it, James was probably dying to celebrate the fact that Tom was dead. And while that kind of pissed him off, he didn't feel like fighting with James. He could tell that James had been trying to hold it back, which was at least something. But he figured that if he bailed for awhile, James could say every nasty comment he wanted and get it out of his sysytem and he wouldn't hear any of it.

Mark shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Damn it, how long is Randy going to take?"

Cooper just shrugged. Randy had told them to wait outside until he found out if Matt and Jeff wanted to talk to them or not. Normally he despised that kind of bullshit, and he would have gone in there with or without permission. But tonight was far from a normal night, so here he was, waiting like a damn jackass.

"You up for this?" Mark asked gently. "We could go back home--"

"I'm fine," Cooper muttered. His eyes went from his feet to his hand that Mark had bandaged before they had left. It was throbbing a little bit because of how hard he had punched the wall, but he actually found that kind of soothing. The pain in his hand gave him something else to focus on.

Mark started to say something else but at that moment, the front door opened again. "They said you can come in," Randy informed them. He looked at Cooper. "Jeff wants to talk to you."

Cooper just grunted and followed Mark inside.

"Where's Jeff anyway?" Mark asked when Cooper didn't.

"His room," Matt replied as he came down the stairs. His eyes were fixed directly on Cooper. "He wants to talk to you alone. And when he's done, you and I need to have a little chat."

_Lovely_, Cooper thought to himeslf as he wordlessly walked up the stairs and headed to Jeff's room. "Quit fucking looking at me!" he snapped at everyone when he felt their gaze on them. He hated that they were staring at him. It made him feel like a damn freak. When he reached Jeff's room, he just walked in without knocking. He found Jeff hugging two stuffed animals close to his chest. The Enigma's eyes were puffy and red from crying.

"Hey Cooper," Jeff said quietly. He sat up and pointed to a spot on the bed. "Sit?"

Cooper sat down. "So...Randy and Matt say you want to talk to me."

"Yeah." Jeff's voice was barely above a whisper. He held out one of the stuffed animals. "Here. Hold Lizard."

"Jeff--"

"He was Tom's." Jeff said that like that was supposed to make a huge difference.

Cooper stared at Lizard for a long moment before slowly taking it into his hands. He had never been big on stuffed animals. His favorite thing as a child had been the Chucky doll James had bought him after the first Child's Play movie had come out. Annabelle had been horrified by the thing, but he had absolutely loved the thing.

"Cooper? You're going to find who killed Tom, right?"

"Yeah," Cooper answered. "I am."

"And you're going to kill him, right?"

"Yeah."

Jeff took a deep breath. "I want to do it. I want to kill him."

Cooper looked at Jeff, more than a little startled by that announcement. "You're not serious."

Jeff frowned. "Yeah I am," he insisted.

"Jeff you can't--"

"Yeah I can!" Jeff insisted, his voice raising an octave as he said that. "Why can't I? Tom was my husband! I can do what I want!"

"You don't got it in you," Cooper informed him. "Whoever did this obviously knowswhat he's doing."

"So? I'll have you with me. You can tell me what to do." Jeff grabbed on to Cooper's shirt and held on to it tightly. "Cooper please, I need to do this."

Cooper clenched his teeth. It would be easy to give in and give Jeff what he wanted. He knew exactly how Jeff felt. He understood the need to kill the person who killed someone you loved. But he couldn't let Jeff do it, and it just wasn't because he wanted to destroy Tom's killer himself. He had the feeling that they were dealing with someone pretty nasty and he didn't want Jeff putting himself at risk. "If anyone here is going to kill that son of a bitch, it's me. You don't need to be involved in the killing shit."

Jeff glared at him. Obviously he had not been expecting for Cooper to refuse him. "Why do you get to do it? Tom was MY husband. I should get to do it." He folded his arms over his chest. "If you don't help me, then I'll do it all by myself."

"You try to do that and I'll tell Matt," Cooper replied. He didn't like being a tattle tale, but he didn't want anyone else he liked to die. And if that meant being a snitch, then he would damn well do that.

"You wouldn't," Jeff said.

"Try me," Cooper dared.

Jeff scowled. "Why are you being mean to me? I thought you like me!"

"Jeff I--"

Jeff didn't let him finish. In a fit of anger, he smacked Cooper on the side of the head. Cooper immediately gave him a nasty look that sent him scrambling over to the corner of his room in fear. For a moment, they just stared at each other. Cooper didn't appreciate getting hit but he restrained himself from doing something he could possibly regret later. "I know why you want to kill this guy," he said quietly, looking right into Jeff's eyes. "But it's not going to do a whole lot of good in the long run. Sure you might feel better as you kill him and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing he paid for his sin. But it's not going to bring Tom back. And it's not going to stop you from missing him every day or stop you from wondering if you could have done something different to save him."

"How would you even know?" Jeff asked sullenly. "You don't even know--"

"I do know Jeff," Cooper interrupted. "When I was sixteen, I fell in love with my only friend. Joie was his name. He transferred to my high school in freshmen year because his old school didn't accept the fact that he was a tranny. He was the only person at school who didn't hate me or wasn't scared of me. I didn't fall in love with him right away. He was just my friend for awhile. But when I finally realized I was falling for him, I fell hard." Cooper picked at his bandaged hand compulsively. He hadn't talked about Joie to anyone for years. The pain of doing it was absolutely unbearable. "Joie used to get a lot of shit for dressing like a girl. His dad beat the shit out of him for looking the way he did and changing how he spelled his name. The kids at school would try to fuck with him if I wasn't around. Then one night, when Dad forced me to go somewhere with him to try to bond with Mark, he was attacked by his dad and a bunch of his friends. They beat him half to death before raping him and throwing him in a ditch on the side of the road."

Jeff stared at Cooper with wide eyes. "Cooper..."

"I found him before he died. He managed to tell me that his dad was behind the attack...then he told me he loved me...then he fucking died in my arms. And I killed his dad and everyone else involved. But it didn't change anything Jeff. Joie was still fucking dead. He was dead....and Tom's still going to be dead....as bad as I want this asshole dead, it's not going to change the fact that he's gone and he ain't coming back." Cooper bit his lip and looked down at his lap. Between the thoughts of Joie and Tom, he was about ready to breakdown completely.

Jeff slowly walked back over to the bed and wrapped his arms around Cooper. Cooper closed his eyes and tried to rebury the pain he was feeling. _Not gonna cry...I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna cry..._


	19. Catch That Killer

Awkward...

That's the only word Mark could think of to describe how he was feeling, sitting in Jeff and Tom's living room with Matt. Not two words had been said since Cooper had gone up to talk to Jeff and if someone didn't say something soon, Mark was going to lose it.

Denial also came to mind. Every time he heard a noise, Mark thought it was going to be his one-time boyfriend coming through the door, with a huge 'gotcha'. Of course, this would mean that he would be beating the almightly Christ outta him for making everyone suffer, but it would be a welcome beating. Even the drink he'd been forced to accept seemed like sacrilege. It was XXX, Tom's beer of choice, and it seemed like in bad taste to be drinking a man's beer when he wasn't there to enjoy one with them.

The longer he stared at Matt, the more it became obvious that the oldest brother (once again) wanted to say something, but Mark was not going to force the issue. It was bad enough that the last four hours had happened; could it have only been that long since they'd found Tom's body in the club?

Randy was in the kitchen, on the phone with the Miz.

"It's been like that all day." Matt noticed that Matk's attention was diverted toward the kitchen.

Mark raised his eyebrow. With the exception of the time he'd been running ECW, he'd thought that Tom wasn't the kind of person to get involved in friendships with his coworkers, a fact he now knew to be untrue. "Popular?"

"Fuck, I'm even getting calls from guys who are now in TNA," Matt stated.

"I didn't know he even dealt with those guys," Mark said. What more could he say?

"They wanted him down there badly," Matt told him. "But I guess, despite the bullshit, he was still loyal to the McMahon's... well, Linda and Shane for sure."

"Funny isn't it?" Mark said with a shake of his head. "He was so loyal and that's what got us in this mess in the first place."

"I don't follow."

"You know that he was waiting for me to come back so we could continue our feud, right?" Suddenly the beer sitting beside him didn't seem so unfriendly.

"Yeah." Matt replied

"I was gonna call him the night of mine and James's anniversary," Mark sighed. "Then James never came home and I went lookin' for him and then all hell broke lose."

Matt stared at the Undertaker, not being able to believe what he was hearing. From the tone of his voice, it sounded like he was close to cracking under the strain, or guilt, or whatever it was that was on his mind. Matt decided that now was as good as time as any to talk to Mark. He had wanted to wait and tell both of them at the same time, but he felt that he couldn't stand to keep this inside him much longer.

"There's somethin' I need to tell you..." Matt took a deep breath and repeated the conversation he'd had with the unknown caller earlier.

Mark listened, the hand that wasn't holding the beer bottle clenching into a fist. "And this fucker didn't say who he was?" Barely controlling his anger, Mark relaxed his hand and took a deep calming breath.

"Nope. He just hung up," Matt answered,

"Well, you're right about one thing. You gotta tell Cooper," Mark said. "Although I gotta real good idea what his reaction's gonna be."

"Yeah, especially after that last part." Matt was, of course, referring to the threat to harm Connor.

"The last part o' what?" A fresh drink in his own hand, Randy walked back into the living room and dropped onto the couch next to Matt. Even Mark, who wasn't the cute and cuddly type, had to admit that they made a cute couple.

"I'll tell you later, Ran." Matt rubbed his fingers through what little hair Randy had. The less times he had to repeat the vile words he'd heard, the happier he was going to be. "Once Jeff and Cooper are done talking." He took a peek at his watch.

"Let them be, Hardy," Mark retorted, sensing Matt's impatience. "They need this time."

....

Jeff rested his head on Cooper's chest. They were laying on the bed now and neither of them had said a word for the last ten minutes. He didn't even know what to say at this point. All he knew was that it was hard to even just keep breathing. Every breath he took felt wrong. It felt like he shouldn't even be going on without Tom. He tried to force himself to stop thinking that way, but he couldn't. He missed Tom so bad that it was driving him crazy. He wanted this to either be a horrible joke or a terrible nightmare, but he knew that it wasn't. This was actually happening and it sucked.

Cooper's fingers began to play with Jeff's hair. This made Jeff hold on to Cooper even more tightly. "I think Lizard likes you," he said.

Cooper looked at the stuffed animal that was sitting on his stomach. "I think he does too," he said. He looked at Bunny, who was safe in Jeff's clutches. "She doesn't seem to like me though."

Jeff hugged Bunny even tighter. "She's reserving judgement," he admitted. "James scared her and when I used to be with your dad, I caught Connor trying to steal her once."

"Poor thing," Cooper muttered. He patted Bunny on the head. "Don't worry darling. Jeff and I won't let Connor get you."

If Jeff hadn't been as sad as he was, he would have giggled at that. But since he couldn't even smile, he settled for letting Bunny join Lizard on Cooper. "There you go. She likes you now."

"Yay," Cooper said. "My life is complete." He eyed Lizard carefully. "You know, Tom didn't seem the type that would have a stuffed animal. That seemed more of your thing."

Jeff shrugged. "There's lots of stuff you didn't know about him. Hell, James might have liked..." He stopped as soon as he realized what he was saying.

"Yeah, I doubt that," Cooper said with a shake of his head. "Even if Tom hadn't royally pissed him off by dating Mark, they just would have still annoyed the fuck out of each other."

"But you liked him."

Cooper sighed and looked at his hand. "The last time I saw him alive, I punched him in the face."

Jeff blinked in surprise. He hadn't known that little fact. "What? Why would you do that?"

"Dad figured out that we had fucked and confronted him about it. I caught him telling Dad that it was a one time thing and it would never happen again. That pissed me off so I hit him and took off to look for Patrick." Cooper shook his head. "It seems so stupid now. And I'm not just saying that because he's dead. It's stupid because for one fucking moment in my life, I wanted something more. I wanted something more than the killing and the chaos and the one night stands and trying to make a lover out of a brother that has the mind of a fucking child. And it was stupid for me to even think that I could get it. After Joie died, I swore I wouldn't put myself in a position to get hurt like that I did." He chuckled bitterly. "You see how well that worked out," he said sarcastically.

Jeff looked up and caught a glimpse of the look on Cooper's face. "How did you do it?" he asked. "After Joie...how did you even go on?"

"I...I almost didn't," Cooper admitted.

Jeff frowned. "What do you mean you almost didn't?" he asked. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Cooper said with a shake of his head. "Just forget about it."

"No. I don't wanna forget about it. What did you mean Cooper?" Jeff sat up so he could look at Cooper better. "Did you...did you try to kill yourself or somethin'?"

Cooper looked at the clock that was in the room. "You know, Matt said he needed to talk to me too. I think I should see what he wants." He slipped away from Jeff and quickly bailed out of the room.

Jeff's mouth dropped open in shock. Cooper had just completely avoided the question, which was not a good sign when it came to the answer to his question. Making sure to grab Bunny and Lizard (who had fell on to the bed when Cooper had gotten up), he chased Cooper down the stairs and into the same room Matt, Randy and Mark were in. "You two okay?" Mark asked.

Cooper shrugged. "Not really." He looked at Matt. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Matt cast a nervous look over in Jeff's direction. "We should probably talk alone," he said slowly.

Jeff glared at his older brother. After everything that had happened today, he was in no mood for this kind of shit. "I wanna know," he said stubbornly. "If you can tell him then you can tell me."

"And you promised to tell me too," Randy pointed out.

"Jeff I don't think--" Matt started to say.

"Just tell him Matt," Cooper said tiredly. "Even if you just tell me, he'll end up finding out anyway."

Matt sighed. "Fine." He then told them about the phone call he had gotten from an unknown caller. Jeff stared at Matt with wide eyes almost the entire time, completely horrified by what he was hearing. But when Matt got to the part where the caller threatened Connor, he glanced over at Cooper. Cooper had both of his fists clenched tightly, and he looked like he was going to explode at any moment.

"So do we think this guy killed Tom?" Randy asked once Matt was done talking.

Matt shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know what to think anymore. My gut is telling me he probably is though."

Jeff bit his lip. He didn't like this. Someone had killed his Tommy and had called it payback. It made him sick to his stomach and absolutely furious at the same time. The talk Cooper had given him about killing this guy not making him feel better in the long run had just been erased from his mind. He wanted this bastard dead and he wanted him dead now.

"Are any of those flunkies Patrick had still alive?" Cooper asked in a dangerous voice.

"Um....yeah..." Matt admitted. "Just one...." He quickly took a step back when he saw the look that came over Cooper's face. "But we don't even know if it's him--"

"But he's a start," Mark said. He stood up and gave Cooper a wary look. "Kid calm down for a second. Don't--"

"You all are coming with me," Cooper told Jeff, Matt and Randy. He was pretty much ignoring the words that were coming out of Mark's mouth. "And you're going to help me find this mother fucker who called here and I'm going to rip him apart limb by limb. This shit is going to end before another one of us gets killed. Do you understand me?"

Everyone nodded. Who were they to disagree with that?

"Good. Let's go." Cooper turned around and began storming away.

Jeff and Mark were the first to follow him, although Matt and Randy weren't far behind him. "Mother fucker is getting scary on us," Randy muttered.

Mark almost looked like he was starting to smile. "That's my boy," he said, pointing to Cooper and nodding. There was definitely a hint of pride in his voice. "Lawson or not, that's my fucking boy."

...

Cliff paced the floor of his new home. It looked to be an abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere in some backwater North Carolina town. Had he been thinking clearly, he would've realized that he'd picked the worst place imaginable to hide out (this being the home to one Itchweeed), but he wasn't. His plans to make a few bucks had, pardon the expression, gone to shit. It seemed like stroke of genius. He'd seen Tom go back into the club by himself and had figured what better way to get his cash outta this mess than to kidnap him and ransom him back to either the WWE or Jeff. He'd hacked off Tom's finger shortly after their arrival and had sent those messages from Tom's twitter to use as messages, but every time he'd gone back to check on his captive, there were either cops or Lawsons, or Hardys, or some combination snooping around.

As soon as he'd heard the news that Tom's body had been found, he had freaked out. He had searched his brain for what Tom could have died from and the only thing he could think of was that Tom had gotten some sort of infection that got into his blood after his finger had been cut off. Cliff had meant to wrap up the wound at the time, but then he had heard cops coming in to snoop around and he had bailed the fuck out of there. And since he hadn't been able to check on Tom, he hadn't had any way of knowing that Tom was dying. If he had, he would have tried to do something. A dead Tom meant that he didn't get his money, and add in the fact that he had made an irrational and stupid call to Jeff's house in an attempt to make himself sound like a badass...well, he was completely and totally fucked right now.

Stroking his newly-acquired gun, Cliff stared at the door to the shack, his pounding heart expecting someone to burst in at any time.

_I'm goin' down, I'm gonna take at least one of you motherfuckers with me. _

...

James was getting annoyed. Connor and Glenn were out of earshot, fuck only knows doing what, Mark and Cooper were gone, and that left him with no one to argue with and he hated that.

"Maybe I should call Tom and... oh, wait a minute... fucker up'n died." James felt something he hadn't felt in years. Could it be... regret? "James Paul Lawson, get your head out of your ass! You don't do regret!" he muttered, looking around his living for something to throw at a wall.

His search was halted by the sound of engines pulling up.

"Good... someone to piss off!" James yanked open the front door, all happy to be able to have someone else to annoy, but that's when he saw who it was.

"Fuck!" He slammed the door. "What the fuck does it take to get these fuckin' Hardys outta my fuckin' life!"

"Maybe if you wouldn't fuck us fuckin' Hardys every fuckin' chance you got, then we wouldn't need to fuckin' be in your fuckin' life!" Matt retorted, waltzing in like he owned the place.

"Watch your fuckin' mouth." James stepped toward Matt, who didn't even flinch.

"Back the fuck off, James."

James stopped in mid-step, shocked, confused, and pissed off all at once. He looked at Cooper, who had just spoken.

"What did you just say?" he asked. Cooper hadn't called him James in a very long time.

"I told you to back the fuck off. The only reason we're here is to arm ourselves and that's it," Cooper answered. "The four of us are going to find the person responsible for Tom's death and make him pay." The even tone he spoke in reminded James of how he sounded just before he went into one of his psychotic rages. That, or a Jericho promo.

"We don't want your help, or even expect you to care," Cooper continued. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you just stayed the fuck outta our way."

"Marky...?" James asked "What's goin' on?"

Mark said nothing, heading straight for the cabinet where he stored his hunting rifles. "You boys know how to fire these things?"

Nods from Matt and Jeff.

"I've never..." Randy started to say.

"I'll teach you." Mark grabbed four guns and a box of shells. "Let's go."

"Mark?" James wasn't used to being ignored. "Deadman...?"

"Take these and meet me by the bikes." Mark handed the guns to Matt and Jeff."I'll be right there." Once alone, Mark faced James. "Cooper has this idea that he knows who killed Tom," Mark told his lover, "and he has decided to go after him."

"What's gotten into that boy of yours?" James said, getting more annoyed by the moment. "Is he losing his mind or something?" Maybe it was just because he hated Tom, but he just couldn't wrap his mind around Cooper giving this much of a shit about his death.

"No, James, there is nothing wrong with that boy of mine." Mark proudly said the last three words. "Nothing at all."


	20. Moment of Kindness

"Can we stop for something to eat soon? My tummy's telling me it wants food," Randy asked. "And my ass is getting sore."

"Food? At a time like this?" Jeff waved frantically. "And who cares about your ass?"

"I do," Matt answered, patting his boyfriend's back. "I'm getting a little hungry myself."

"Might be a good idea, son." Mark was off to one side, talking to Cooper who didn't seem to jazzed by the idea of stopping. "We still have a long way to go."

What Mark was referring to was thanks to a phone call from Shannon, they had a hunch that their enemy was hiding in Itchweeed's shack back in North Carolina. Hopefully (for them not Cliff), he would still be there when they arrived. But there was, as Mark put it, a long way to go.

Cooper's expression hardened. He did not want to stop until there was Cliff's blood spilled. Things like stopping for food would only cause an unnecessary delay.

"It'll do us no good to show up battle fatigued." Mark understood what Cooper was thinking without so much as a word being spoken. "We don't even know if that was Cliff. It could be just some homeless guy needing shelter."

Cooper looked away from Mark. The Deadman was right, even though it didn't seem to matter one way or the other to Cooper. There were five of them and only one of him. Any idiot (and that included Mark), could see that when they did find Cliff, revenge was definitely going to be theirs... well, his and Jeff's for sure. The other three could stand by and watch for all he cared.

"Okay, numbuts!" he shouted. "Dismount!"

...

The longer he stayed in the shack, the more claustrophobic Cliff felt. He couldn't leave though. At least not during broad daylight. He'd made that mistake once already and had paid for it in the worst way. Of all the people in this backwater burg to see him, it had to be one of the Hardys' friends. He wasn't sure if Shannon realized who he was, but even if Shannon hadn't recognized him, no longer was it safe to remain here.

"Once the sun goes down, I'm gone," he mumbled to himself. "Find a cabin in the mountains somewhere and hole up. This time, there will be no mistakes."

Cliff curled up in a corner and dozed, dreaming of the darkness.

...

"Jeffro, you haven't touched your pancakes." Matt stared at the plate in front of his younger brother.

Jeff twirled his fork in some syrup and stared forelornly at them. If their idea of making him feel better was to take him to IHOP, then they were totally wrong. No matter what he did, where he went, or who he saw, reminded him of Tom and this place was the worst of all. All the time the Hardy Boyz had spent in IHOP's when they were on the road, the run, or just for the hell of it was bringing tears to his eyes.

"Imma bathroom." Jeff ran from the table.

"You've done enough. Let me handle this." When Cooper stood up to follow Jeff, Matt stepped in.

"Well, fuck me for caring," Cooper barked, sitting back down and staring at his omelette.

Matt shook his head. Just when he was actually starting to like the guy, he gets his head bit off again. "Don't touch my food, Orton."

Randy grinned sheepishly. "I won't." He looked directly at Cooper and winked.

_I hope this fucker ain't coming on to me too. _Cooper focused on shovelling food into his mouth._ Am I really that desperate to be loved that I am going after people I know can't or won't love me back?_

"Don't take that the wrong way, Lawson."

"Take what? That wink?" Cooper answered.

"No, Matt. He really is glad that you're around, despite your personal animosity toward each other. He's having a hard enough time keeping it together himself," Randy told him.

"What about you?" Cooper asked.

"What about me? I'm there for Matt, but honestly I didn't know Tom that well. The most time we ever spent together was when Legacy and Hardys were feuding. Even after Matt and I hooked up, it was a couple hours here, a day there, but we never really bonded. I wish we would've." Randy sighed "Anyway, I'm just sayin'."

...

"Jeff, you can't stay in there all day." Matt tapped on the door of one of the stalls.

"Why not?" Jeff sniffled.

"Because there are going to be other people who need to go." There was no one else in the bathroom right then, but that would soon change. "Jeff, I know what it's like. It was the same when Amy and I first broke up. Everything around me reminded me of her."

"That's different. She's still alive," Jeff reminded him. "You're still friends."

"Okay, bad example," Matt admitted "Just...remember all the good times you two had." He could feel himself getting all choked up.

Matt turned when the door opened. "Is Jeff comin' out?"

"No! Tell Marky Imma stay here forever!" Jeff yelled back.

Matt shook his head. "I think he's serious."

"Lemme talk to him," Mark offered.

"If you can get him outta there, I'll buy breakfast." Matt went back to join Randy and Cooper.

Mark was tall enough to be able to see over the door. "Hey, kid. What's really bothering ya?"

Jeff looked up, his eyes red and moist. "Go 'way Marky. I don't wanna talk to anyone."

"If you don't come outta there, I will tear this door off and make you pay for it." Mark threatened.

Jeff cringed.

Mark's brow furrowed. He headn't made any threats toward Jeff before. In fact, he loved him like he was trying to show Cooper that he loved him.

"It's money, isn't it?" It had to be the other part of the threat that bothered Jeff.

"Imma broke," Jeff whispered.

"How bad is it?" Mark asked.

Jeff shook his head. "Tommy's accounts are frozen until his will gets settled. Imma can't pay the bills right now."

"Have you talked to Matt. Maybe he can help?"

"He just finished paying for the BCR dome." Jeff's eyes told Mark everything he needed to know.

"What about his contract?"

"Stephanie won't return my calls after she heard that I'd been talking to TNA." Jeff replied

"TNA? You're kidding!" This was news to Mark. The locker-room grapevine had been flying since the announcement that TNA was going to try to compete on Monday nights. With Hogan, Bischoff, and Flair all working for them, it looked like the Monday Night Wars might be back for round two.

"I need money," Jeff repeated. "I wanna have a nice funeral for Tommy..."

Jeff rambled on about his financial woes while Mark nodded, but wasn't really listening. His mind was on another track.

"If you come out of there right now, I'll see what I can do." Mark responded, stepping away from the door and waiting.

The door opened a crack. "What do you mean?"

"I won't promise you anything, but I might know someone who'll help."

The door swung back and Jeff flew into Mark's arms. "You do? Who?"

Mark smirked and avoided answering that question. "Go eat your pancakes and keep this our secret."

"Yay!" Jeff skipped out of the bathroom.

Mark quickly took out his phone and pressed the first number on his speed dial. "Mother fucker better answer," he muttered under his breath. "And he better be in a giving mood or I'm going to kick his fucking ass."

....

James woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He groaned and reached for it while trying not to move too much. After Cooper and Mark had left, he had pretty much drank every bit of alcohol that was in his house while he watched cartoons with Connor. The two of them had ended up falling asleep on his bed, and now Connor was now hugging him like he was a giant teddy bear or something. _Thank God nobody's here to see this,_ James thought as he finally managed to grab his phone off of his desk. "What?" he slurred, still drunk from his previous night's drinking.

"It's me," Mark said. "Look, we need to talk."

James sighed and rubbed his temples. "When are you bringing my son back?" he asked.

"Your son? Oh so now he's your son again?"

"He's always my son, even if I call him yours sometimes," James replied. He wanted to sit up but he couldn't without waking Connor up. "Just because you want to be a better father now doesn't mean I'm just handing him over to you. If you think if you're just going to take him from me--"

"Lawson stop," Mark ordered. "I'm not in the mood to fight with you right now."

James pouted. Damn. He hadn't had anyone to annoy because Glenn had bailed on him and Connor about a half hour after Cooper and Mark ran off with the Hardys and Orton. "Well if you didn't call for that, then what the hell do you want?"

"Jeff needs your help."

"I already don't like the sound of that."

"James just listen to me. He's broke. Tom's accounts are frozen until the will gets settled, Matt can't help him because he just built some fucking dome thing by his house and Stephanie probably won't help him because he's been talking to TNA."

_TNA? Fuck, that's desperation for you,_ James thought as he bit at his thumbnail. To say he didn't want to "cross the line" with other promotion was an understatement. He had met Jeff Jarrett before and hadn't liked the little cocksucker one little bit. Add in the fact that he had never liked Hulk Hogan and suddenly Impact became less appealing to him that going to jail for the rest of his life. "I don't see what this has to do with me," he lied. He already knew exactly what this had to with him. Just because he acted like he was a complete idiot didn't mean he actually was one.

"Lawson come on," Mark said in exasperation. "Don't play dumb right now. I would give him my own money but between alimony and child support and me not actually having a job because of you--"

James took the phone away from his ear, rightfully sensing that Mark was just getting started with his rant. He looked over at Connor, who was now awake. "Mark wants me to give Jeff money," he whispered. "You think I should do it?"

Connor blinked while sucking on his thumb. It was hard to tell whether he was thinking about that question or about to say something really stupid. Just when James was about to tell Connor to forget it, his youngest son decided to speak. "What would Cooper want you to do?" he asked innocently.

James stared at Connor for a minute, considering that question carefully. Cooper had a thing for Jeff...and despite his denials, they all knew that he did have a thing for Tom too....Cooper would want to help..."Oh fuck me," James muttered. He turned his attention back to the phone. "Get your panties out of a bunch Marky," he said. "I'll call you back in a little bit." He hung up Mark and got up to his feet. "Get dressed Connor," he ordered. "It's time to get up."

Connor whined and tried to bury himself under the covers even more. "No Daddy. I don't want to get up."

"You're not staying in bed all day," James told him. He opened the drawer to his desk and pulled out a blue notebook. He opened that up and began flipping through it. "If I have to get up then you do too."

"No!" Connor refused. "I'm not getting up until Cooper gets back!" He pulled the covers over his head and huffed loudly.

James rolled his eyes. Connor spent half his time bitching that Cooper was mean to him yet now that Cooper wasn't there, he wanted big brother back. _Kids..._"There it is," he said as he found Julie Rosenberg's phone number. Julie was the secretary at his porn company (she was just supposed to be his secretary but since he avoided his business like the plague if he could, she was used for other things as well...at least that's what people said anyway). He grabbed his phone, dialed her number and then waited impatiently for her to answer.

"Hello, this is--"

"Julie it's James." He didn't even let her finish her sentence. "Listen, I need you to do something for me."

"Okay," Julie said without hesitation. Either she was just a really faithful employee or she was scared of him. Not that it mattered. What mattered was that she was willing to do what she was told.

"I need five million dollars transferred from one of the accounts and put into Jeff Hardy's account," he said. "And I want it done today if possible."

"Okay," Julie said. She could be heard scribbling something down. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Call a pizza place and have them deliver to my house."

"You want the usual?"

"Yup. Oh and find out who Justin Bieber is and why he's famous...every time I go on Twitter, he's a fucking trending topic and I want to understand it."

"Okay. I'll get to work on that."

"Sweet." He hung up and immediately called Mark back. Mark answered on the first ring. "Well?"

"Don't ever say I don't come through for anyone ever again," James said as he plopped back down on the bed.

"You did it already?"

"Well...technically the money isn't in there yet. But it should be soon."

"I owe you one Lawson."

"Yeah...you're so being my bitch when you get home." James hung up and closed his eyes. He felt gross now because he had just done something nice. "Connor?"

"What Daddy?" Connor asked.

"After the pizza comes and we eat it, you want to go kill someone?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Me too."

…..

Mark snapped the phone shut and then realized he should've asked James how long the transfer would take. He didn't want to get Jeff all excited but then not have the money there when he looked. That would probably earn him a lot of scorn, not to mention a punch or two from either Matt or Randy. One way to find out.

Mark returned to the restaurant proper, and took his seat.

"Problems in paradise?" Cooper asked.

"Fuckin' ex-wife wants more child support for Gunner," Mark lied."She says he wants a motorbike."

"Why don't you give her one of yours?" Jeff asked.

"That what I offered, but no... she wants the money so he can pick out his own. It's a load of crap." Mark said "So we compromised. I just gotta stop by the bank and wire her some money before we hit the road."

"I'm ready to go now." Matt added "I think everyone's pretty much done." Even Jeff had managed to eat most of his meal.

Once the bill was settled, with a promise from Jeff that he'd pay whomever when he could get into Tom's account, they mounted the bikes and drove to the nearest bank.

"Jeff, would you mind coming in with me? I hate dealing with banks."

"Uh... sure, I guess," Jeff shrugged

Mark and Jeff walked into the branch. They were the only ones in line.

"May I help you?"

_Here goes_. "Hi. My son is having problems with funds disappearing from his account. Is there any way we can check the balance?"

"Certainly. Is this his home branch?"

"No. His account is at another branch."

Jeff squirmed. _What the hell is Mark doing? There is nothing wrong with my account... except that it's empty._

"If your son will just swipe his card, I can access his information for him."

"Thank-you. Jeff?"

Looking very shell-shocked, Jeff entered his pin number and waited.

"I'm showing a balance of five million three dollars and nine cents." She whispered, turning the screen to show him the balance. "Is that correct?"

Jeff burst into tears.


	21. Sticky Situation

Squeezing five guys into one room was damn near impossible, so they had settled for renting two rooms in a Howard Johnson's. Mark hadn't wanted to stop at all, but he hadn't counted on the delays at the restaurant and the bank, as well as it taking almost an hour for Jeff to calm down after realizing that the five million was not a joke. Particularly after he found out who had sent him the money. His first thought was to send it back, but Mark had adamantly refused.

They motored as fast as they could, but they soon realized that there was no way they were going to make the trip in one day. Randy and Matt had bagged one room, and Mark, Cooper and Jeff had taken the other.

"We're outta here at nine," Mark flatly announced. "If I have to wake anyone up, it ain't gonna be pretty."

Everyone fell asleep almost immediately. Everyone, that is, except for Cooper. Listening to Mark snore and Jeff mumble in his sleep, Cooper tried to focus on what was important: finding the motherfucker who killed Tom and making him suffer. But the more he thought about that, the more he thought about other things. Things he usually didn't think about, like feelings.

"Fuck." Cooper wiped his eyes to hide any tears that had the nerve to try to appear. The longer this went, the more often he was having to do this. More than once, Mark had caught him doing this. At least the Deadman had the brainpower to keep his mouth shut.

He looked back to his left where Jeff was sound asleep with Bunny. Lizard was perched on the bedside table, staring at Cooper.

Cooper reached over Jeff's body and picked up the stuffed toy. He still wasn't the cuddle toy type, but he'd come to enjoy holding it just for what it represented. He placed it on the pillow beside his head and be damned if he couldn't still smell a trace of Tom's cologne on it.

"Lawson, get a fuckin' grip." He wiped his arm across his face again, then closed his eyes. It seemed like forever before his thoughts settled and sleep came.

...

Cooper rarely remembered his dreams, mostly because they usually involved mutilating some sorry son of a bitch in some way. This one was different. He was in the back of Tom's Viper, the top down, staring at a starry sky. It was pathetically sweet and Cooper was the kind of guy who, if he didn't like the way a dream was going, could change it. He was just about to when he realized that Tom was in the seat beside him. He was in the torn clothes that his body had been found in, but he wasn't missing any fingers and most of all, he was alive.

"So what is it you wanna tell me?" Tom asked.

"What the fuck you talkin' 'bout?" Cooper responded .

"It's your fuckin' dream, man. There's obviously something on your mind if you're dreaming about me," Tom answered.

Cooper realized that there was something he needed to get off his chest if there was any chance of closure. But how would Tom take it?

"Tom, you know me enough to know that I don't do apologies, but. I fucked you over big time."

"Lawson, you know that if you hadn't punched me, I'd probably still be alive." Tom smirked. Even when he was dead, Cooper found it hot to look at.

"Tell me something I don't already know!" Cooper shouted "Why the fuck do you think I'm jazzing to kill this guy?"

"You love Jeff."

Cooper snapped his head to the side. "What?"

"You think that by doing this, you'll be able to maybe atone for the fact that you got me killed and that'll make Jeff want to be with you." Tom responded "If I didn't know you better, I'd say you planned this from the beginning."

"Fuck you, Hardy."

"That's how this whole mess started," Tom stated. "Look, I don't really care. The point is you love Jeff and believe it or not, I don't have a problem with it. Just promise me you'll take care of him."

Cooper blinked twice. Would Tom really say this or is just what I want to hear?

"Tom, I..."

"You don't have to answer. In about two minutes, Jeff is going to wake up screaming and it's gonna wake you up as well." Tom said "Jeff's gonna be really happy with you... don't fuck it up!"

Seconds later, Cooper was indeed awakened by a scream from Jeff and slammed back into reality.

"Fuck..." He was sure his hearing had been damaged. "Jeff... what's wrong?"

"Tommy..." Jeff looked at Cooper and the floodgates opened again.

Just promise me you'll take care of him. Tom's words echoed in his mind and he let Jeff wrap his arms around his body. "Shhh... hug that rabbit of yours and it'll be okay."

Jeff burrowed into Cooper's shoulder hard enough to make him grimace. "Mmmm." He mumbled

"Wanna tell me about it?" Cooper found himself doing what he did when Connor had nightmares and come running into his room. Fortunately, Jeff didn't start punching Cooper furiously to wake him.

"Monsters," Jeff whispered.

"I'll protect you, don't worry." Cooper felt Jeff's bony body press against his side and there was something else. Something long and hard brushing against his leg. "You want me to do what I used to do when Connor would have a nightmare?"

"Beat him up?" Jeff raised his head, a little fearful.

"Not exactly." Cooper reached down, inside Jeff's sleep pants, and gripped his erection. Jeff gasped at the unexpected touch. "This should make you forget all about it." He started to stroke, slowly at first, but gradually speeding up as Jeff's body responded to each touch. He looked over his shoulder, but Mark was still out. Neither Jeff's screams, nor his increasingly heavy breathing had disturbed the Deadman.

Jeff moaned each time Cooper's fingers touched his dick. The feeling of the calloused fingers working him brought welcome twitches to that part of his body.

"Mmmm, Coopy... more... please." Jeff thrust his hips in time to Cooper's hand.

I wish I could give you more, but this is the best I can do right now.

Cooper could feel Jeff's orgasm approaching and he quickened his pace.

"Cooper... Imma... fuck yesssss......" Jeff hissed loudly when he came, his seed spilling out into Cooper's hand.

Cooper wiped his hand on the top sheet before draping his arm around Jeff's shoulders. "Feel better?" He looked down when Jeff didn't reply. His eyes were closed and to Cooper's amazement, watching the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest, he was fast asleep.

Cooper closed his own eyes and soon drifted off into dreamland. This time he was killing some nameless person... everything was right in the world.

...

Mark woke up the next morning at about eight. His knees and hips were absolutely killing him. He took a deep breath and tried to wait and see if the pain would start to ease on its own. It didn't, and it actually made him wish that James was there with him. James always found ways to distract him whenever he was in pain. Maybe I should call him…no, I shouldn't. He probably just went to bed a couple hours ago. If I wake him up now he'll probably fall asleep when I'm trying to talk to him.

So with that plan down the drain, Mark sighed and looked over at the other bed where Jeff and Cooper were still sleeping. Jeff had his arms wrapped around Cooper and poor Bunny was squished up between the two men. Cooper had one arm around Jeff and had his face practically buried into Lizard, who actually seemed to be staring at Mark. Cute, Mark thought as he very slowly got out of bed. His body protested furiously at his actions and made him pay for his actions by starting to hurt more. Fuck, I can't do this shit today, he told himself as he grabbed his clothes and limped into the bathroom. He had an hour before they were all set to leave and he had to find a way to at least make the pain more bearable. I should have brought my pills with me. I got so wrapped up in this whole thing that I didn't even think about grabbing them before I left.

Mark got in the shower and just let the water run over his body. It took awhile but it did make him feel a little better. He got out of the shower, dried himself off and got dressed. As soon as he opened the door to get out of the room, Jeff just about ran into him. "Sorry Marky," Jeff said sheepishly. "I gots to potty."

"It's all yours," Mark assured him as he got out of the way. He looked over at Cooper and saw that the younger man was on the phone. "Who—" he started to ask Jeff, but was cut off by Jeff shutting the bathroom door. "Never mind then."

Cooper sighed loudly. "Connor stop. You're being ridiculous. No, I'm not running away again. I am not! I—" He rolled his eyes and put his shoes on as he let Connor ramble on the other line. "Don't say shit like that. You know better than that. Yes I still love you and Daddy. I do too! Jesus Christ Connor, cool your fucking jets! I'm just going to kill someone! I'll be back soon, okay?" He sighed and pretended to shoot himself in the head with an imaginary gun. "Uh huh. Yup. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about but okay. Yeah. Love you too. Bye."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "What was that all about?"

"Connor's convinced that I ran away from home because I don't love him or Dad anymore," Cooper said with a shake of his head. "I mean I know I ran away from home that one time but that was different!"

Mark just shrugged. "At least he's concerned. Maybe there's hope for him after all."

"Yeah…and maybe pigs will fly out of my ass."

Mark would have said something else but he decided to just drop the subject. Once Jeff was out of the bathroom , they met up with Matt and Randy and then they were on the road again. They were driving a lot faster than they did yesterday, mainly to make up for the time they had lost. Mark hoped that they could get to North Carolina sometime today. He wanted this over and done with as soon as possible. The longer this got drawn out, the more likely it was that someone else (whose name wasn't Cliff) would get hurt.

….

I should probably not be doing this, Shannon thought to himself as he approached Itchweeed's cabin. I should have at least brought Shane along with me…aw man, why am I being such a pussy? I should be able to handle this. It's probably just some homeless person shacked up in there. I'll just kick them out and it'll be all good.

Despite telling himself this, Shannon couldn't stop the chills that were going up and down his spine. But he didn't turn back now. He was practically there now. Here goes nothing, he thought to himself as he went into the place.

From the looks of things, it definitely appeared that someone had been staying there. Things had been moved around and there were a couple food wrappers on the floor. Shannon took another step forward but then stopped. Something felt wrong. He could feel a pair of eyes watching his every move. _Son of a fucking bitch…this probably isn't good._

He reached for his cell phone. Thinking back, it probably would've been better if he'd waited until he was outside the shack to call for back-up. The rest of the Hardy Show Crew were less than ten minutes away and having Kimo or even Yuk by his side might've changed the outcome.

"I wouldn't fuckin' do that if I were you." Shannon felt cold steel press against the back of his head. "Drop it."

He let the phone slide from his fingers and fall to the floor.

"Hands behind your back... do it or you get a bullet in the head. If you think I'm full of shit, you can ask Tom when you see him," Cliff growled into Shannon's ear.

Shannon had no choice but to obey. His hands were tied together with rope and a smelly rag was stuffed into his mouth and held in place with electrical tape. Lastly, his eyes were covered with another cloth, leaving his hearing his only source of communication.

Once he was secured, Cliff tied him to one of the inside supports.

"Looks like I got some company." Cliff resumed his vigil. Darkness was still hours away. "You better hope no one else shows up or all they're gonna find is another dead body." And, despite that he was beyond the point of surviving this alive, Cliff laughed.

Shannon cringed. His only hope was that his call had gone through. Cliff had mistakenly assumed that Shannon was in the process of dialling out, when he'd actually one-touched the last name on his call log. On the other end of the line, Shane paced nervously, listening, not daring to say a word. Until Cliff had laughed, and that was enough. He raced around the ECW locker room, trying to find someone who'd loan him their cell, and eventually he convinced Yoshi Tatsu that it wasn't a joke.

He quickly called Matt. Fortunately, they were off the road for a moment to refuel. Explaining as fast as he could so he could get back to listening on his phone, he told Matt what he'd heard.

Mark was just coming out of the service station when Matt waved him over.

"We ready?" He asked

"Mark..." a shaken Matt swallowed nervously. "We got a problem."


	22. Fiery Vengeance

"What do we do?" Matt asked.

Mark shrugged. "I don't see how this changes anything. From what you just told me, we now know exactly where that motherfucker is and we now have a damn good reason to make double time."

"But shouldn't we tell the others?" Matt peered over Mark's shoulder. Cooper, Jeff, and Randy were all leaning against their bikes.

"Not unless you want Jeff to have another breakdown." Mark shrugged again. "They'll find out soon enough."

"But..."

"Trust me, Hardy, okay? I may be the old fart around here, but I know what I'm talking about." Mark looked at Matt, 'Taker style. "Remember I still owe you for two chair shots. Play along and maybe I'll forget about that. Permanently. And wipe that expression off your face."

"What expression?" Matt sneered.

"Good boy." Mark patted him on the head. "Let's hit the road."

They only stopped once more before the outskirts of Cameron reared it's head. For Jeff, it was the first time he'd been home in months, but it seemed like only yesterday since he'd finally decided to move on. Matt had hired someone to maintaine the Imagi-nation compound, but other than that, everything was just as he'd left it.

_What the hell was going through Moore's mind?_ Mark asked himself. _ Kid doesn't have the sense God gave a hill of beans. _

"Where's that motherfucker at, boy?" Jeff asked, now slipping into Itchweeed mode. "I am the master of the weed-eater and I will not have my property treated like a whore!"

"Probably holed up in your shack," Matt answered.

"Well, let's teach that motherfucker some respect." Jeff lead the convoy. "Whoever you are, I am Itchweeed, and I will not have a zebra fucker like you descrating my space. So come out, yo, and maybe I won't introduce yo' ass to my friend."

Itchweeed waited for a reply. Inside the shack, Cliff kept one eye on Shannon. "I don't know who you think you are, but I have a hostage. Come any closer and I ventilate his spiky-haired skull." He wasn't surprised to see them, he was just surprised how fast they'd arrived. "How the fuck did they get here so fast?"

Shannon shrugged. He couldn't say much in the state he was in.

"Keep that sonofabitch talking, 'Weed-man," Cooper said. "You three grab your guns and cover me while I go around the back. Mofo won't know what hit 'im 'till he's bleeding."

"You must be possessed by a demon, boy. Why else would you dare rape a man's castle when he ain't there?" Itchweeed stated, not even looking Cooper's way when he was addressed.

"I don't know who the fuck you are, but I ain't got no problem with ya. Why don't you just let me go, maybe on that bike you were so nice to bring me..."

"I tole ya... I am Itchweeed, master of the weed-eater, and one tough motherfucker. Now are you gonna come out here and we can settle this man to asshole or an I gonna hafta come in there?"

"Stay back! I'm armed, I have a hostage, and I'm not afraid to use one to take care of the other." Dealing with Itchweeed's logic was not what he was expecting, and Cliff was having a hard time coming up with a decent defense.

"Whatever boy. Sounds like ya got a demon in ya, and it don't matter to me. It's what we in the weed-eating biz call collateral damage. Ya pop the hostage and there's nothing stopping me from takin' ya out, boy."

Cooper chuckled. He had seen just about every episode of The Hardy Show and had always gotten a huge kick out of Itchweeed. _If that doesn't keep Cliff distracted, then nothing will_, he thought to himself as he went around to the back. Matt, Randy and Mark were covering him carefully. Mark was the only one of the three that looked remotely calm at the moment. _Hopefully nobody gets trigger happy before I get a chance to rip Cliff apart limb by limb. That would really piss me the fuck off._

Making sure to stay low, Cooper carefully peeked through the window to see what was going on inside Itchweeed's shack. Cliff was in there and he had his back to him. Itchweeed was obviously frustrating the hell out of him. Shannon was in there too, all tied up and playing the role of the reluctant hostage. Cooper wasn't sure how the fuck Shannon even got there and he really didn't care. It wasn't like the Prince of Punk was going to be staying there long anyway. Cooper carefully opened up the back door of the shack and slowly creeped inside.

"Just get the fuck back!" Cliff screamed, definitely at his wits end with Itchweeed. "Do you think I'm afraid to come out there and shoot you right between the eyes? HUH?"

"Man, you need some serious help," Itchweeed said, obviously taking great delight in frustrating the fuck out of Cliff. "That demon is clouding up your mind. Now I know this warlock--"

Cliff let out a frustrated scream and made a move like he was going to open the front door and shoot Itchweeed right between the eyes. But at the same moment he attempted that, Cooper sprang into action. He grabbed Cliff by the back of the neck and slammed his head so hard through the front door that it actually went through it. Cooper made sure to grab Cliff's gun and throw it across the room before yanking Cliff's head back out of the door. "Surprise mother fucker!" he snarled as he kicked Cliff right between the legs. Cliff groaned in pain but he didn't get to dwell too long on his balls. Cooper threw him into the wall and began kicking him as hard as he could. He could feel Cliff's ribs breaking under the assault and he liked it. He liked it so much that he kept up with his kicking until he saw blood coming out of Cliff's mouth.

"Was it worth it?" Cooper snarled. He got down on his knees so he could punch Cliff in the face as hard as he could. "Huh? Was killing Tom fucking worth dying for?"

Cliff tried to get his hands up in order to shield his face. "I didn't mean--"

Cooper hit Cliff again to silence him. "You didn't mean to? Well you know what? I don't fucking give a rat's ass whether you meant to or not." He took the thug's arm and pinned it down to the floor with his knee while taking his knife out of his pocket. "If you want mercy, you probably should have gone to someone else to get it. Us Lawsons are not exactly the forgiving type. We're more the type to do something like this..." He brought the knife down on Cliff's wrist, getting a scream of pain from the bastard that was music to his ears. He yanked the knife out before driving it back in. James had always taught him that if someone smacked him on one cheek, he should smash them back on the other one. Always do it bigger and better. And since Tom had lost his finger before he died, Cooper figured that it was only appropriate that Cliff lost both of his hands.

"Oh God! Oh God oh God I walked in at the wrong fucking time!" Randy moaned.

"If it's that disgusting for you to watch, quit lookin' over there and help me and Matt get Shannon out of here," Mark said.

Cooper yanked Cliff's hand from his arm before looking up. Mark and Matt were trying to get Shannon untied so they could get him out of there while Randy and Jeff were just staring at Cliff and Cooper with wide eyes. Randy appeared to be trying to look away from the sight of Cliff's severed hand but it seemed to be like a train wreck for him; it just refused to let him look away. Jeff however, wasn't making any attempts to look away. He was staring at the scene in front of him, his eyes wide but filled with anything but disgust. Cooper didn't take the time to try to figure out what exactly was going through Jeff's mind. Instead he started stabbing Cliff's other wrist, eventually severing the tendons and breaking the bones enough to allow him to yank that hand off too.

"Damn, that had to hurt like a bitch," he said gleefully, waving the hands right in front of Cliff's face. Cliff seemed to be going into shock or something, so Cooper began smacking him with his own hands to try to snap him out of it. "Quit hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!" he ordered, not realizing how much like James he truly sounded at the moment. He smacked Cliff a couple more times before shoving the hands into his pockets and picking up Cliff. "I need gasoline," he announced. "Anyone want to go get me some?"

"I'll get it," Jeff volunteered. He took off running before anyone could object.

"You're getting blood all over yourself," Mark pointed out as Matt and Randy got Shannon out of the shack.

"Tell me something I don't know," Cooper replied as he walked out of the shack. While he could never ever live in a place like Cameron (he was a city boy at heart and always would be), he appreciated the fact that this place being in the middle of nowhere meant he could carry a murder victim around and not have to worry about the wrong person seeing it.

Jeff came running back a minute later with a container of gasoline. Before Jeff could even speak, Cooper had thrown Cliff down to the ground and had taken the gasoline right out of his hands. "Thanks Hardy," Cooper said, unscrewing the cap on the container and dumping it all over Cliff's body. The bastard was definitely weakened from the loss of blood, but he was alive enough to realize that he was in big fucking trouble and not able to do a damn thing about it.

"Cooper..." Jeff drawled out while looking around nervously. "Don't ya think someone might see the smoke?"

Cooper shrugged. "Who the fuck is around here but us? Besides, we'll put him out as soon as we know he's dead." He handed Jeff the empty container and took his lighter out of his pocket. "Only I can start a forest fire," he said gleefully as he set Cliff on fire. He jumped back as the flames quickly consumed Cliff's body, laughing at the sound of Cliff's screams.

"Yuck, he stinks," Jeff said as he put his hand over his mouth and nose.

Cooper rolled his eyes. "Well yeah, burning flesh tends to reek like that."

Jeff gave him an annoyed look before resting his head on his shoulder. "Cooper?"

"Yeah?"

"You were right?"

"About what?"

"All this...it didn't change anything. Cliff's all burnt up and dead but Tommy's still gone..." Jeff let out a choked sobbed and wrapped his arms around Cooper as tightly as he could. Cooper sighed and hugged Jeff back, still staring at Cliff's burning body. He didn't bother trying to tell Jeff that everything was going to eventually be okay. That was something that Jeff was going to have to realize on his own. _Although I hope he realizes_ _that a lot faster than I did when Joie got killed. Otherwise this could get even worse before it finally starts to get better._


	23. Life Goes On

Cooper sighed loudly as he tore his closet apart. He had a big problem at the moment. Tom's funeral was only a couple of hours away and he didn't have a suit to wear to the damn thing. He had thought he had one, but apparently he didn't. "Shit shit fucking shit!" he yelled loudly. This was not good. Jeff had asked him and Mark to be two of the pallbearers for this thing, so he couldn't be late to getting there. "Connor! Get your ass in here now!"

Connor came running in a few seconds later, completely covered from head to toe in mud. "Whatty Coopy?"

"Do you know what happened to the suit I had in here?" Cooper asked.

Connor nodded. "You threw it away because it made you sad. Remember? You took Joie to that one dance in it and—"

Cooper groaned. Now he remembered. "Okay okay, thanks. Now please leave because if you track mud anywhere else in my room, I'm going to tie you down and make you watch The Shining over and over again.

Connor gasped. He didn't like that movie. The two ghost girls in it freaked him out. "Meanie!" he shouted as he ran away.

Cooper rolled his eyes and went to James's room. "Dad?" he said as he opened the door without knocking. "Do you have a—oh come on people!"

James and Mark froze in their tracks. James was only wearing a pair of leather pants and the buttons on Mark's shirt and pants were undone. They had been caught red handed and only Mark had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. James was just grinning like it was no big deal. "Give us a half hour," James said, groping Mark's crotch with absolutely no shame.

"We don't have a half hour damn it," Cooper snapped, almost amused by the sight before him. James acting like a horny teenager was kind of funny…in a weird and gross kind of way of course. "I need to borrow one of your suits."

James looked at him like he was absolutely insane. "Why would I have a suit?" he asked incredulously.

Cooper stopped to think about that. "Good point," he grumbled. Now he felt stupid. Why in the hell did he think that James would have a suit? Temporary insanity he decided. That's what it was. It's the only logical explanation.

"I've got an extra one you can borrow," Mark said, pointing to the closet. His neck was now being attacked by James's mouth and he was having a hard time putting up a fight.

"Thanks," Cooper muttered. He went to the closet and got it out. He thought about going to the other room to change, but then realized that if he didn't break James and Mark up now, Mark would never make it to the funeral. "Okay assholes, break it up," he said, grabbing a pillow and smacking them both with it. "One of you needs to leave and the other one is going to stay so I can keep an eye on you. We don't have time for this right now."

"But Cooper, I wanna fuck Marky," James pouted. "Seeing him in a suit gives me needs."

"Yeah, I know," Cooper said, wishing that he didn't have to see his dad's tremendous hard on. "But take care of those needs yourself until we get back to the funeral."

James started to protest again but Mark shushed him quickly by whispering something in his ear. James whispered something back and it appeared that they were having a brief argument. Finally James reluctantly left the room, which left Mark and Cooper alone.

"Oh look, you have a hickey," Cooper said as he quickly changed into the suit. "That's great. Hopefully nobody's going to see that."

Mark grinned sheepishly as he fixed himself up. "I was ambushed," he said defensively. "He—"

"You can just stop there," Cooper interrupted. "Believe me I've caught you and Dad fucking enough times to picture the rest." He finished getting dressed and sighed. He just wished this was over with already. He didn't like funerals. He had only been to two of them in his life but that was too many in his book. He wasn't looking forward to this third one.

Mark sighed. "Cooper there's um…there's something I need to say to you before we go."

Cooper frowned. "Okay, what is it?" he asked.

"I'm um…I'm sorry. You know, for being an asshole to you and not being a dad to you. And I know that you've still got a lot of resentment towards me and I accept that, but I was wondering if maybe we could…I don't know, start fresh or something?"

Cooper thought about it carefully. Maybe it was just because everything that had happened lately was giving him a new perspective, but he actually didn't feel like fighting with Mark about this. He had been holding on to his anger towards Mark for a long time, and maybe it was time to try to let that go. "I guess we could," he said as he shrugged. "I mean it can't hurt…but don't expect me to start calling you dad. Dad is gonna stay Dad because…well he's Dad damn it."

Mark smirked. "Yeah, he's a good father despite being a crazy annoying bastard…"

"And a sexy beast! Don't forget that part!"

Cooper smacked his forehead. James was obviously listening to the conversation from the other side of the door.

"Yes, you are a sexy beast," Mark said with a roll of his eyes. "Always gotta stroke that man's ego," he muttered.

"That's not all you'll be stroking today Marky!"

Cooper groaned. Now he had bad mental pictures in his head that would not go away. "Ugh, let's just go," he told Mark. "The sooner we get this over with, the better I'll feel."

...

"Gentlemen, it's time... oh yes!"

Mark, Glenn, Cooper, Randy, Adam, and Matt had offered the services as pallbearers. As they entered the church, Lillian Garcia began to sing. It was a cover of Journey's "Faithfully", but with a few small changes.

_Highway run _

_Into the midnight sun _

_Wheels go 'round and 'round _

_You're on my mind _

_Restless hearts _

_Sleep alone tonight _

_Sendin' all my love _

_**Along the wire **_

Through tears, Jeff watched the casket make it's way to the front of the church. He clutched Bunny tightly for support, feeling so totally alone right then.

As if he could read Jeff's mind, Jay, who was sitting next to him, reached over and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's gonna be okay. Everyone here is there for you if you need it." He whispered

"I know." Jeff whispered back. "Thanks." He smiled for the first time since Cliff had met his end.

_They say that the road ain't no place to start a family _

_Right down the line it's been you and me _

_And lovin' a wrestlin' man ain't always what it's supposed to be _

_Oh Jeff, you stand by me _

_I'm forever yours _

_Faithfully _

_Circus life _

_Under the big top world _

_We all need the clowns _

_To make us smile _

_Through space and time _

_Always another show _

_Wondering where I am _

_Lost without you _

_And being apart ain't easy on this love affair _

_Two strangers learn to fall in love again _

_I get the joy of rediscovering you _

_Oh Jeff, you stand by me _

_I'm forever yours _

_Faithfully _

_Whoa, whoa, faithfully _

_I'm still yours _

_Ever yours _

As they all sat, Paul Bearer ascended the podium.

"Friends, we are gathered here today to say goodbye to Andrew Thomas Baker-Hardy... loving brother, husband, friend, and co-worker..."

In the front row, Jeff stared straight ahead, tuning out Bearer's words. He had hoped that Cliff's death would bring closure, but Cooper was right. No matter how he sliced it, Tommy was still gone and no amount of bloodshed would bring him back. All that was left was to move forward, and remember all the good times.

"Psst... Jeff..." Matt nudged his brother. "It's time."

Jeff blinked twice, snapping back to reality. It was only when he was standing at the podium, preparing to deliver Tom's eulogy, that he realized how real this was.

"Tommy...," he closed his eyes to stop the tears that he knew were forming. He wanted to get through at least one line of his speech before totally going to pieces. "...when they said till death do us part, I didn't think it would be so soon. I expected us to grow old together, not bury you today." Jeff rubbed his eyes. "I don't know whether to be sad or angry right now, Tommers. Matty told me to remember all the good times we had, but right now none of them seem to matter much. You were almost taken away from me once before..."

While Jeff spoke, James crept in and sat in the back row next to Batista, who gave him only a cursory glance. He really didn't see the point in funerals, but since he was indirectly paying for this thing, he figured he better put in an appearance to see what his five million had bought.

"...and I thought that meant that you weren't gonna do stupid stuff anymore, but..." Jeff's voice disappeared into sobs. Matt quickly stepped beside him and held him until he was able to continue. Jeff wasn't the only one breaking. Randy, Adam, even Mark, were crying, as was many of the spectators. Even a guy as normally reserved as John Cena was weeping.

"Tommy, Imma miss you... Matty's gonna miss you... Bunny and Lizard are gonna miss you... dammit, we're all gonna miss you, but maybe you're in a better place right now." Jeff sighed, reaching for something. "I know there was one thing you never got to do and thanks to Mark, Imma gonna do it right now." He unwrapped a red velvet package and went down to the casket. "Since you never won the big one down here, you'll have something to defend up there." He draped a replica of the World Championship belt across the casket and stood back.

"Howard, please..."

The Fink, in his tuxedoed glory, stood. "The winner of the bout and NEW World Heavyweight Champion... Tom Hardy!"

The funeral procession, to a subdued acoustic version of "Go Insane", made their way to the cemetary where Tom was laid to rest next to Gil and Ruby... in the plot originally bought for Jeff. It had been a tough decision where to lay Tom to rest... next to his birth parents or beside his adoptive family. Eventually it was decided that, since Tom was a Hardy by blood, he was buried in the Hardy family plots.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we commit our brother Tom unto you, Lord. Bring him the everlasting peace he deserves in the name of your son. Amen." Bearer sprinkled Holy Water on the coffin, then it was slowly lowered into the ground.

The reception followed back at Jeff's house. The place was packed and the booze flowed. That made almost everyone feel better, except for Jeff. If it had been up to him, he would've preferred not to have people over. He'd just said goodbye to the love of his life and having this... party seemed in bad taste. He sulked in the bedroom with Bunny, occasionally listening to the noise from downstairs, but mostly just thinking.

_Remember all the good times._ He repeated to himself over and over. Being alone helped.

"Jeff?" Cooper tapped softly on the door. "You in there?"

"Where else would I be?" Jeff threw a pillow at the door.

"Can I come in?"

Jeff sighed. "I guess."

Cooper quickly slipped in, a relieved look plastered on his face. "Thank God. That party felt so fucking wrong." He locked the door behind him so nobody else could get in.

Jeff almost smiled. At least someone agreed with him about the party. "It was Matty's idea," he said. "And I didn't feel like arguing with him."

Cooper nodded as he laid down on the bed with Jeff. "At least he's not forcing you to be down there."

"Yeah." Jeff rested his head on Cooper's chest. "Where are James and Connor?"

"Home probably," Cooper replied. "Dad coming didn't really feel right since he hated Tom and Connor wouldn't have sat through that. He would have gotten bored." He began playing with Jeff's hair. "And there would have been a fight between Dad and Bearer if the two of them would have come along."

"Why would there have been a fight?"

"Bearer hates Dad because Dad's "a heathen with no soul" and Dad hates Beaerer because the fat bastard annoys him." Cooper shook his head. "So um...what are you going to do now? I mean, you've got some money to pay for stuff but--"

"I don't know," Jeff confessed. "I haven't really decided yet. I'm just kind of trying to hang on right now." He reached over to the desk and grabbed Lizard, who was sitting on top of some of Tom's things. He looked at the stuffed animal carefully before handing it to Cooper. "Here. You take Lizard. He should be yours now."

Cooper blinked in surprise. "Wait, what?"

Jeff sighed impatiently and moved Cooper's arm so that the younger man was hugging Lizard. "You take Lizard," he insisted. "You loved Tom too and you should have something that was his."

"Jeff I--"

Jeff silence Cooper with a kiss. When Cooper sighed and relaxed, Jeff pulled away and gave him a stern look. "Take Lizard," he ordered. "It'll make me feel better."

Cooper sighed. "Fine," he said. "I'll take him. But I swear to God, if this destroys my serial killer cred, you're gonna get it. I mean it."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Jeff said as he laid down on top of Cooper. He didn't know how much longer the party was going to go on, or how he was going to feel later, but at the moment, he felt at least a tiny bit okay. And he knew it mostly had to do with Cooper being there. _This whole mess started with me hooking up with one Lawson and is ending with me being with another one..._

_"Yeah, well at least you ended up with the halfway sane one,"_ Tom's voice said inside of Jeff's head. _"That's something at least."_

Jeff smiled before closing his eyes and snuggling up closer to Cooper. He was emotionally exhausted from the funeral so he quickly began drifting off to sleep. Before he went out completely though, he had one last thought.

_Yeah, that is something...love ya Tommy._


End file.
